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FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

THE GOLDEN GATE, 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



BY 

1SABELLE SAXON 



TvVtl-O 



"All 

Are 


places lhat the eye o 
to the ' wiser' ports 


f Heaven visits 
and happy havens 
Rir. II. 


i. 3, 




_ 










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LONDON : 






CHAPMAN 


AND HALL., 
1868. 


193.. 


PICO. 


.VDILLY 



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Fs^ 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY VIRTUE A.ND ' 

CITY ROAT» 




'6f 



TO THE READER. 



The author of the following pages first reached the 
western coast of America about seven years ago,. She 
came back to Europe on a visit to her family, and 
returned to the Golden City at the close of 1866. 
When in England she was -persuaded to record the 
particulars of what she had observed in the West 
during her sojourn there. This she has embodied in 
a desultory mode in the following pages. They will 
at least tend to throw light upon the social life of a 
small portion of that vast Western territory as yet but 
imperfectly explored. With this succinct explanation 
of the origin and intent of the work, the author com- 
mits it to the indulgence of her readers. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Pacific Steamers— The Golden Gate — Xoble Bay — Geographical 
Outline of the Country — Alcatraz and Oakland — San Francisco 
— Territorial Surface and Soil — Sea Breezes— Temperature — 
Local Description — Hotels . . . ... . .1 



CHAPTER II. 

The " International" — Case of Broderick and Terry — City Squares 
— Gambling-Houses — Scarcity of Employment — Fresh Arrivals 
— Lagerbier Saloons — City Dogs — Musicians — Story of an 
Actress 15 



CHAPTER III. 

Chinese Emigrants — Their Dwellings — Temples — Chinese Doctors 
— The Markets of San Francisco — Its Churches — Rev. Thomas 
Starr King — Marriages in California — The Spiritualist Mania — 
Miss Emma Hardinge — An Improvisatore — Sunday Law — 
Bankruptcy — Charitable Institutions — Christmas Observances 
—Toilettes of the Ladies 38 

CHAPTER IV. 

Fashionable Boarding- Ho uses — Hospitality — Social Regimen — 
Politeness of the Lower Classes of American Men towards the 
opposite Sex — Contrast to it among that Class of Englishmen — 
— Manners of the Gentlemen as seen in the Street Cars— Re- 
r-'.aurants — Californian Wines — Vineyards — Peach Orchards — 
Method of Cooking the Tomato — Public-School System — Fire 
Companies — Fast Young Lady — Balls and Parties — Theatres 
— Earthquakes— Street Railways — Crystal Springs . . .57 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 



Start for the Mammoth Pine Grove — Calaveras County — City of 
Sacramento— Southern Mining Region — Jones City — Luncheon 
al Fresco — "Water-Melons — A Sentimental Pony — Mining Town 
of " Murphy's" — Cleanly Appearance of the Working Classes — 
"Placer" Diggings — Discovery of Gold in California — Process 
of "Washing the Precious Metal — Present Depreciation of the 
Southern Mines — Arrival at the Big-Tree Grove — Gigantic Di- 
mensions of the celebrated Trees — Their Longevity — Solemn 
Appearance of the Grove — Rattlesnake — Beautiful Lichens — 
Return to San Francisco . . 77 



CHAPTER VI. 

Mission Dolores— Past and Present — Cora and Casey— Action of 
the Vigilance Committee — The "Willows — Russ Garden — Cliff 
House — Sea-Lions ; — Lone Mountain Cemetery — Calvary Ceme- 
tery — Broderick's Monument — Monument to a Naval Officer — 
To a Regretted Wife — Poison Oak and Ivy — Their Effects — 
Increasing Value of Real Estate — Water — Manufactures — Fuel 
— Cooking Stoves— Wash-Boards — Chinese Laundries . . 97 



CHAPTER VII. 

Californian Law Courts — Counsellor F as Referee — Pitched 

Battle between Counsel — Appearance of English and American 
Bench and Bar — A Divorce Case — Bea\itiful Octoroon — A Mur- 
der Case — Question of Corruption — Coloured Testimony — De- 
coration of the Courts — Floods of 1861 — Boating Parties by 
Moonlight — Serenades — Tragical Catastrophe — Perils of a Fa- 
mily by Water — Their subsequent Death by Fire— Incidents of 
the Flood — Charitable Actions of the San Franciscans — Ludi- 
crous Occurrences — Indian Traditions . . . . .112 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Start for the Geysers— Petaluma — Beauty of the Scenery — Fences 
— Healdsburg — Delightful Climate — Over the Mountains on 
Horseback by Moonlight — The " Surveyor's Camp " — The 
" Hog's Back" — Grandeur of the Mountain Scenery — Pluto's 
Canon — The Geyser Hotel — Old Levey Cottage — The Falls — 
The Devil's Canon— The Mountain of Fire — Proserpine's Grotto 
■ — Combination of Acids— The Witch's Caldron — The "Steam- 



CONTENTS. 



pact: 
boat Exhaust Pipe" — Opinion of Scientific Men — The Indian 
Spring — Chemical Analysis — A Fishing Excursion — Madame 
Crinoline and the Pine Tree — A Flight from an Imaginary Foe 
— A Hip Bath — Sketching Parties — Wild Flowers — Discovery 
of the Geysers — Return to San Francisco . . . . 128 



CHAPTER IX. 

San Francisco Hackmen — Eccentric Characters— The Press — State 
Fairs — Paintings — Sables — Surgical College — Taxation — The 
Inebriates' Home — Dashaway Society — Its Organisation and 
Object — The African Race — Chastisement of a Slave by his 
Mistress — Slavery — English Opinion and Sympathy — " Earth's 
Adverse Principles" — Re-election of Lincoln — Gratification of 
Americans at Her Majesty's Letter to Mrs. Lincoln — Feeling of 
San Francisco during the "War — Processions — Universal 
Mourning for Lincoln's Death — Action of the excited Populace 
— Destruction of " Copperhead " Newspapers .... 144 

CHAPTER X. 

Nevada Mines — Grand Scenery among the Nevadas — Pioneers — 
Carson Valley — Kit Carson — Virginia City — Board of Brokers 
—Romantic Case of Gratitude— Reese River — Appearance of 
the Great Basin — Its Mineral Wealth — The Pacific Railroad — 
California and Oregon Line— Grants of Congress — Idaho Terri- 
tory — Agriculture — Sonoma County — Petaluma — Healdsburg — 
Russ River Valley— Green Corn —Succotash Roads — Petroleum 
— A Settler's Wife— Copper Minos 1G0 



CHAPTER XL 

Commerce — Panama City — Free Trade with New South Wales 
and with China — Russo- American Electric Telegraph — Condition 
of San Francisco — Population — Statistical Parallels of Murders 
committed in the Free and Slave States — Money-making — Gar- 
den Produce — Market Prices — Rates of Salaries and Wages — 
House Rent — Taxation — Currency — Irish Votes for M'Clellan 
— The " New Human Conglomerate" 180 

CHAPTER XII. 
Introductory Observations — Embarcati on for England . . 199 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XTTI. 

PAGE 

Report on the Western Mining 245 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Jonrney of W to the West in the earlier Time — The Start 

from Chicago — A Convoy of Saints — Indian Anecdotes and 
Attacks — German Emigration — Meetings of the Brethren — 
Splendid Sunset — Lahours of the People — Mosquito Attack — 
Excessive Heat — False Alarms — The Chimney Rock — Port Lara- 
mie — Danger from Wolves — Mountain-range Scene — Reach 
the Salt Lake Valley — • Proceed to San Francisco , . . 209 



CHAPTER XV. 

Sandwich Islands — The Natives — The Bark "Yankee" — The Ha- 
waiian Nation— Their King — "Pulu" — General Miller — Dense 
Woods — Ornithological Information — Modes of Catching 
Birds — Earthquakes — Mountains — Volcanoes . . . . 29b 



Notes . 309 



FIVE YEAES WITHIN THE GOLDEN GATE. 



CHAPTER I. 

PACIFIC STEAMERS — THE GOLDEN GATE — NOBLE HAY — GEOGRAPHICAL 
OUTLINE OF THE COUNTRY — ALCATRAZ AND OAKLAND — SAN FRANCISCO 
— TERRITORIAL SURFACE AND SOIL — SEA BREEZES — TEMPERATURE — 
LOCAL DESCRIPTION — HOTELS. 

The details of a sea voyage from England to the 
"West Indies some years ago, considering how many 
cross the Atlantic in the present day, would be tedious. 
Besides this, I shall hereafter have something to say 
about my homeward-bound voyage, and I would fain 
avoid repetitions. Large and commodious steamers 
proceed regularly to Aspinwall : thence to Panama is 
a distance of about fifty miles over the isthmus. A 
railroad takes the passengers across in three or four 
hours, a rate of travelling not very speedy, but fully 
meeting the object for which it was formed, — of a 
communication between the two oceans, At Panama 
the agent, Mr. Corwine, attends assiduously to the 
re-embarkation of passengers on the Pacific side. 

The northern-bound American steamers of the Pacific 
are now noble vessels, generally of larger tonnage 



FJVE YEARS WITHIN 



than those on the Atlantic side of the isthmus. The 
Golden City, for example, which makes the passage 
from Panama to San Francisco, a distance of 3,150 
miles, is 4,400 tons burthen. This vessel is complete 
in accommodation, with every appliance, even to an 
ice house, a luxury not to be slighted in a tropical 
climate. The cuisine is equal to that in a first-class 
hotel, and the wines excellent, if at a price somewhat 
dearer than in an English steamer. 

A speedy passage of twelve days in that fine vessel 
takes its freight of goods and passengers from Panama 
to the entrance of the harbour called the "Golden 
Gate." The monotony and length of a sea voyage, 
as formerly experienced, are wonderfully relieved by 
the introduction of steam, and fully as much by the 
superior size of the vessels, and the extent of space at 
command, in place of passengers being cooped up 
without the power to exercise the body. The motion, 
too, increased in a small vessel, was no slight incon- 
venience to the stomachs of the landsmen — but enough 
for the present on this part of the subject. 

Before proceeding farther than the " Golden Gate " 
entrance to the bay of San Francisco, it may be proper 
to call the reader's notice, prior to the perusal of these 
pages, to the character of the State of California as 
regards its geographical form. The eastern boundary 
is composed of a range of mountains called the Sierra 
Nevada, which decline in elevation and terminate at 
their bases in a valley of considerable depth on the 
western side, but not at once, They diminish gra- 
dually in size down to what are called locally " foot 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



hills/' and these in their turn slope into the valley. On 
the west of this valley, which is very broad, and five 
hundred miles long, hills again commence, and cul- 
minate in the Coast Range Mountains, so called, which 
are of a very imposing height. 

The northern part of the great valley above mentioned 
is drained by the Sacramento river and its tributaries. 
The southern part is watered, but less effectually, by 
the San Joaquin stream, which also receives a number 
of subordinate feeders. Both these main rivers, ap- 
proaching each other for some distance, at length 
mingle their waters at a point nearly midway in the 
great valley, a little distance above San Francisco, 
through the noble bay of which, so denominated, they 
finally escape to the ocean. The bay itself is about 
seventy miles long by fifteen broad, being, at the 
entrance, narrowed into a channel only about a mile 
broad, but fully five long, through which its waters 
escape in a current at the entrance, as the tide ebbs 
and flows to and from the ocean. But for that channel 
or strait, the inner waters would remain like a noble 
lake. This channel or strait, from the western side of 
the bay, passes on the northern shore between high 
promontories, which gradually ascend to the Coast 
Range Mountains, and in the same manner on the 
opposite side to the bold but less elevated coast on the 
south. 

The navigation on one side of this channel entrance 
is dangerous without care. High craggy rocks rise at 
intervals abruptly near the land, over which the sea 
breaks with tremendous fury. Even in the calmest 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



weather, and in that fine climate, the waves break upon 
them so furiously as to be hurled in volumes of snowy 
spray the best part of a hundred feet into the air. 
Thus it would seem as if nature had jealously guarded 
the entrance to her golden stores. By a slight stretch 
of the imaginative faculty, the scene, so it struck me, 
might be deemed the locality of some ancient mytho- 
logical tale, and the gigantic rocks its guardians, or 
dragons, like those that protected the gardens of the 
Hesperides in ancient fable. 

Upon entering the strait from the Pacific, the summit 
of an abrupt promontory on the north is marked by a 
lighthouse, and still further on the south side exhibits 
a shelving point of land which terminates in a fortifica- 
tion of considerable strength, bristling with cannon, 
called Fort Point. The portion of the strait or channel 
more immediately between the lighthouse and this fort 
is that termed " The Golden Gate," or " Chrysopylse." 
Ahead of the vessel, as she proceeds, mountain islands 
rise abruptly from the water to the height of two 
thousand feet. 

Further eastward the channel widens, and the little 
island of Alcatraz, surmounted by a large building of 
red brick, is seen with the flag of the Union waving 
over all. Fortifications of solid masonry defend this 
island, on the east of which and upon the southern 
shore the buildings of the city of San Francisco make 
their appearance. Arrived out of the strait into the 
wide and noble lake-like harbour, the vessel passed a 
long dilapidated pier, known as " Meigg's Wharf," on 
the north side of the city. She then rounded what is 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



called " Telegraph Hill," and a little further southward 
anchored near a wharf on the east side of San Francisco, 
as well as of the peninsula before noted as terminating 
at Fort Point, the outer side of which is exposed to the 
full fury of the "Pacific" tempests, if it be not an 
Irishism to use the expression. 

It is now perceived that the principal part of the 
city faces the east. Opposite is a small town, on the 
other side of the bay, called Oakland — a very pleasant 
spot, with only a few houses yet built. The Americans, 
with a sort of passion for the "grandific" in all 
relating to themselves, call it a city. The site is 
delightful compared with that of San Francisco, and 
many citizens reside there, crossing the harbour to 
their business and returning. The distance by a ferry 
is about seven miles. It is yet farther to the south 
that the bay attains its extreme width. The position of 
the city of San Francisco itself is well sheltered from 
the storms seaward by a background of sand-hills, 
which take a peninsular form, nor can any site be better 
adapted for maritime purposes. 

It is in a northerly direction from the city, at a dis- 
tance of many miles from the mouth of the harbour 
entrance above described, that the Sacramento river 
enters the bay by a delta of twenty-five miles in 
extent, formed by its junction with the San Joaquin and 
other streams. 

The city of San Francisco itself occupies a range of 
six or seven hills. That part of the place devoted to 
business is principally constructed of brick, but there 
are numerous habitations of timber. The suburbs 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



extend over several intervening valleys, and the rapidity 
of its construction, to an inhabitant of the Old "World, 
is really a matter of astonishment. To this, however, 
in addition to the Anglo-Saxon impatience to keep 
moving, the temptation of the miner alogical wealth of 
the country added tenfold speed.* 

The writer must now be considered as set down in 
the city as a resident for a time fully sufficient to be- 
come well acquainted with the locality and many of the 
principal inhabitants. To detail the trivial incidents of 
a stranger's landing and tavern or boarding-house 
reception would be to repeat what has been repeated a 
hundred times regarding accommodations of the same 
nature in the Eastern States, with which the British 
world is well acquainted, as they have been the matter 
of complaint or censure, of comparison or arrogant 
remark, with almost every tourist to the Eastern States. 
This is often from self-esteem being made the judge of 
everything foreign in personal bearing and home habit, 
those tests of excellence regarding any custom, whether 
peculiarly well adapted or not to differences in think- 
ing, climate, or suitable habits. 

In these sketches it is the writer's desire to adhere 
closely to a truthful representation of San Francisco as 
it stands at present — as she observed it — rather than as 
that " ideal" which the anticipations of its citizens 
trust it will, or the prejudices of its enemies would 
fain hope it will not become. She therefore trusts that 
her simple and truthful statements will be regarded 
with that impartiality to which the plain facts may be 
* See observations towards the end of this work. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



considered to have a claim. A resident for no short 
time in the " Golden City," still English in heart, with 
no inconsiderable attachment to the locality and its 
descendants of the " old country," to divest her of all 
prejudice, she thus enters upon her task, a true lover of 
England, her native land, but with the simple desire to 
make the new country better known in Europe generally. 
She believes that the truthful description of a stranger, 
appealing to reason, and steam-power facilitating an 
intimacy between England and her descendants, by 
rendering its appeals more frequent and familiar, may 
soften national asperities, diminish bigotry, and that 
attachment to the darkness and ignorance of the past 
times which is concealed under the innocent term of 
" conservatism." 

To continue : San Francisco is seen to great advan- 
tage from the sea, as the stranger views it approaching 
from the deck of the vessel. The hills and inter- 
vening valleys are densely covered with substantial 
buildings. Those which are more immediately devoted 
to business in the trading part of the city stand, for 
the most part, on what was originally the sea beach, 
now covered by edifices with no other foundations than 
piles driven into the sandy shore. These " water lots," 
as they are termed, extend a great distance outward 
from the firm land, and there are wooden wharves 
which extend still further to seaward, on account of 
the shoal water, whence in the earlier time of the city 
a great expense arose to enable them to communicate 
with the shore by means of lighters or boats. 

The more distant dwellings seen from the sea are 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



frame houses of two and three stories, some down even 
to one. The background consists of hills at a consider- 
able distance, while the bay itself is generally filled with 
fine vessels of all nations, which lie off at anchor, com- 
pleting the general picture of the many-hilled city. 

Here the sketch must end. The eyes search in vain 
for the presence of vegetation. No trees interpose 
their umbrage among the suburban dwellings. No 
luxuriant verdure covers the hills or fills the dales with 
smiling fertility, and marks the outskirts of the town. 
In April and May the stunted grass on Telegraph and 
Russian Hills (eminences so denominated) is green and 
pleasant, and the hills of Alameda and Contra Costa, 
on opposite shores of the bay, as well as what are 
called Angel and Goat Islands, present a verdant ap- 
pearance. This, however, is quickly succeeded by a 
parched, brown, sterile hue, which continues through 
the rest $f the year. The inhabitant of the city then 
becomes sick for the sight of foliage. 

New York, broiling as is the heat of that city in 
summer, exhibits here and there peeps of pleasing ver- 
dure and much umbrageous beauty, and it is so with 
Boston, for I have been in both cities. It is the same 
in Sacramento, the queen city of California, but in San 
Francisco the eyes ache and the heart yearns in vain for 
velvet lawns and leafy bowers, the reason being that the 
entire peninsula upon which it stands is formed of sand- 
stone, covered with a great depth of sea-sand. The conse- 
quence is that nothing can be more fatiguing than a 
walk, or rather an attempt to walk, where the street or 
road is not "graded," which means not planked or 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



macadamised. Ten or twelve miles inland from the 
city, there is as much vegetation and rural beauty as 
the most ardent lover of nature can desire. The low 
lands of Alameda and of Contra Costa, too, abound in 
orchards and strawberry gardens. San Francisco itself 
thus stands unadorned with any loveliness from nature, 
although abounding in all that is artificial in place of 
natural, in all that commerce and wealth can impart to 
please and allure in artificial life. 

The sea-sand just alluded to adds, too sensibly, to the 
unpleasantness of the city as a residence, especially 
during the windy season. In that fine climate the 
rainy season extends from October to March, after 
which not a drop of rain falls to freshen the arid earth. 
In the month of March high winds set in, usually about 
10 a.m., and do not cease until 6 p.m. These winds 
temper the heat exceedingly, but they could cheerfully 
be spared. One of the daily newspapers thus described 
the setting in of the wind, which after all is not so 
much the evil in itself as that on which it acts as an 
agent of motion, by raising the fine and light sand into 
the atmosphere ; thus, if it keep the air cool, it is at a 
cost that would gladly be spared, on the principle of 
choosing the lesser of two evils. The newspaper 
denominated the Morning Call one day described the 
visit of the wind for the season in these words : — 

" Yesterday was as windy and disagreeable as human 
imagination is capable of conceiving, and human nature 
of enduring. Clouds of dust whirled through the 
streets and darkened the air, and the amount of sand 
which penetrated through every window-frame, and 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



under every door, was something frightful in the aggre- 
gate. Estimating soil at a very moderate rate per 
square yard, the total amount blown out of the city and 
county of San Francisco into the bay, or over towards 
Mount Diablo, would be equal to an independent fortune 
for a family." 

This is not an exaggerated statement. The average 
of days similar during the windy season is considerable, 
and not less disagreeable. This is a great objection to 
San Francisco as a residence. There is farther the 
change of temperature in the warm summer months, 
when the heat before noon is often oppressive, so that the 
lightest dress may be worn ; yet after eleven or twelve 
at noon, when the sea breeze sets in, a change to 
thicker clothing is indispensable. The utmost efforts 
are necessary to retain hats and bonnets; while the 
fine sand whirled about in the air by the wind sprays 
the skin, and, getting into the lungs, predisposes for 
consumption — by no means a rare disease in the city — 
thus increasing the mortality. 

The buildings are laid down in streets running up 
from the bay east and west, and crossed north and 
south, parallel with the shore, which renders it some- 
what formal, though convenience and even architectural 
neatness and beauty may be best consulted by such a 
plan. 

The houses erected on what are denominated the 
"water lots" being the earliest built, are, for the 
most part, indifferent frame buildings. Those immedi- 
diately fronting the wharves are on the western sides 
crowded with clothing shops or stores, mostly held by 



THE GOLDEN GATE, 



Jews. The wharves are built ordinarily of wood, and 
present uniformly scenes of great activity and bustle. 
That invaluable feature of freedom and improvement, 
the press, has continually lectured the " city fathers," 
and made some strictures on the shamefully unsafe 
condition of many of those wharves, and the large holes 
or " man- traps " suffered to remain without repair in 
their flooring. Dead bodies were often found floating in 
the bay, that it was presumed had thus fallen through 
neglected apertures into the water at night, or in 
the dusk of evening. In the earlier days of the 
settlers, things were no doubt worse than I found 
them. 

The first street on the shore of the bay is Davis 
Street, followed by Battery, Sansome, and the Regent 
Street of San Francisco, called Montgomery Street. 
The streets are divided into squares, from cutting each 
other at right angles, the houses comprised within 
one square of buildings are called a block. These are 
generally about a hundred yards on each face, and are 
spoken of as Block No. 1, 2, or 3, as the case may 
be. Thus, Montgomery Street lies four blocks from 
the shore of the bay, or the " bay- shore," as the in- 
habitants call it. 

The streets near the water in the bad state above 
alluded to, with the cause, having been mentioned, 
recall an incident relating to them which I heard of 
on my way to the hotel. Here I am a little out of order, 
yet as I only pretend to write irregularly, as memory 
reproduces the incidents to which I thus give perma- 
nency, I may here state : — A gentleman related that 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



but a few years ago, while lie was walking along 
Sansome Street in the evening, near where one of the 
theatres stands, he saw a carriage and horses approach- 
ing towards it. On a sudden, horses, carriage, and all 
disappeared, like a scene-trick in a pantomime. For- 
tunately, assistance was at hand, and the water under 
was shallow. They had dropped through the wooden 
staging — ay, horses, carriage, and all — from the decay 
of the timber, which was in fact the paving of the street, 
or rather the planking ! Happily without very serious 
mischief : with the sand and shallow water beneath, no 
one was hurt so as to endanger life. An hour's amuse- 
ment was lost, for the inmates of the vehicle were 
going to the theatre near which the accident occurred. 

I mention the foregoing circumstance to show how 
carelessly, indeed, unaccountably so, human life is 
hazarded in America, not in such a case as this only, 
but in others still more neglectful and heedless. Some 
urge the hasty colonisation of the country as an excuse, 
but it is not easy to define how that should engender 
such recklessness. I thought it a poor excuse, as I 
saw the splendour of many of the buildings in the city 
in which such occurrences take place. There, too, 
labour is a costly article, and that might be supposed 
a motive for more caution in protecting life, besides 
that the population is no way to be compared with the 
numbers in the crowded towns and cities of the old 
world, and human life must be proportionally valuable. 

As I entered Montgomery Street for the first time, 
I was surprised to find it full of fine shops, and in 
every respect comparable with the finest streets of New 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 13 

York and London. It cannot, perhaps, rival the Eue 
Rivoli, in Paris, in the style of the buildings, but it is 
probable that the Parisian street will have a dangerous 
rival if those of the American city continue to go on 
as they have begun. A street called by the plebeian name 
of Market Street is, they told me rather prematurely, 
likely to outshine even Montgomery Street. 

At the time of my arrival in San Francisco, the most 
fashionable hotel was that called the " International." 
There were others nearly equal to it in extent, as the 
" Metropolitan/ \ for example, both built of brick, and 
the " American Exchange." The " Oriental " and 
" Tehama House " were frame buildings on my arrival. 
But after that time the "International" was outdone by 
new buildings, and it fell to a third-rate establishment ; 
indeed, it was said to have become a temperance house. 
The " Oriental " fell into a fifth- class hotel, and the 
" Tehama" disappeared. Such were changes a little 
time produced in what may be called a new-born city. 
The "American Exchange," a quiet hotel of good repu- 
tation, kept by substantial people, for which the charge 
was, they told me, two dollars per day for accommoda- 
tion, was considered the most respectable. 

While somewhat premature in going so far into the 
subject of the accommodation for strangers thus early on 
landing, I may add that the noted hotel, the "Metro- 
politan," has disappeared, with its front of seventy 
windows, and in its place has arisen the finest of all 
the hotels in the city, the " Cosmopolitan." There are 
several others nearly equal to it, as the " Occidental " 
and "Sick House," which, with "Russ House," are 



14 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

recent creations. At the latter the charge is three 
dollars per day, and it is generally used by travellers. 
There are, of course, other houses of less moment. The 
" Occidental " is the favourite rendezvous of theatrical 
people, but the " Cosmopolitan " is the most " aristo- 
cratic/' for there exists a sort of aristocracy even in 
republics. The " American Exchange " and " Tehama 
House " were in class to be numbered with the fore- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 15 



CHAPTER II. 

THE " INTERNATIONAL " — CASE OF BRODERICK. AND TERRY — CITY SQUARES 

— GAMBLING-HOUSES — SCARCITY OF EMPLOYMENT — FRESH ARRIVALS 

LAGERBIER SALOONS — CITY DOGS — MUSICIANS — STORY OF AN ACTRESS. 

My notes, sometimes desultory enough, were often 
abandoned for a time, as if I felt myself too idle to 
continue them ; and then they were, by some sudden 
inclination, resumed. 

"We took up our quarters after landing at the " In- 
ternational,' ' where the accommodation at the time was 
all that a reasonable person could desire. It was in 
this hotel that an individual of note, much respected 
in California, was with malice propone drawn into a 
dispute with one Judge Terry, a somewhat notorious 
character, who subsequently turned out to be a traitor, 
and in the Southern interest. The dispute terminated 
in the loss of Broderick's life by the hand of this admi- 
nistrator of laws he was bound of all men to observe 
even to the letter. The event made a great sensation 
among the public. Terry was a first-rate marksman, 
while his antagonist was wholly unused to handle 
deadly weapons. Terry got the choice of the weapons 
to be used, and he selected hair-trigger pistols. It 



1 6 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



was reported lie had also the choice of the ground. 
The pistol of Broderick was prematurely discharged, 
the ball entering the ground before the words " one, 
two, three " were concluded — an accident the conse- 
quence of Broderick' s awkwardness with hair- triggers. 
He was said to have observed, while on his way to the 
ground, that he would not fire at Terry above the hips, 
for he bore no enmity towards him. Terry now had 
the game in his own hands, and coolly taking aim, 
shot his antagonist through the lungs. Broderick 
expired within three days afterwards. 

It was publicly stated by one individual that some 
weeks before this event, being in the lobbies of the 
legislative House of Assembly at Sacramento, he heard 
conversations to the effect that Terry was to pick a 
quarrel with some one, but he did not catch who was 
intended ; and that if Terry did not succeed in killing 
the person understood, others would involve him in a 
dispute, and try what they could do until he was got 
rid of altogether. 

I here dilate upon an incident which made a noise 
before and after my arrival, because the subsequent 
proceedings which took place in the United States have 
proved that Broderick, a staunch advocate for the 
enfranchising of the slaves, fell the "first martyr" to 
that great principle for the sustentation of which so 
many subsequently died within the United States. 
Broderick was the great pillar for the support of free 
principles in California. He would have it a free 
State — free from the stain of slavery — and he was, 
therefore, hated by all the slave advocates in conse- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



quence. The fact had been openly stated by bis friend 
Colonel Baker in tbe course of pronouncing the eulogy 
over his coffin. His death was deemed a party neces- 
sity by the friends of slavery, ill disguised under the 
colour of a private quarrel. It was said that the infamy 
of Terry's act was enhanced in that, during the time of 
the existence of the " Vigilance Committee," Broderick 
actually subscribed two hundred dollars a week towards 
a newspaper in order that it should use its influence 
for Terry's protection. 

To show how much Broderick was respected, the 
people, they told me, moved softly along in the streets 
of the city, the windows and shops were hung with 
black, the lamp -posts bore inscriptions on black 
boards in white letters, being the d} T ing words of 
Broderick : — " They have killed me because I was 
opposed to the extension of slavery and a corrupt 
administration." 

Let those of my countrymen who supported Southern 
slavery, asserting that the rebellion was not really begun 
by the South upon that question of slavery, regard those 
dying words of one of the most upright, sensible, 
and estimable of American senators. Two years before 
the rebellion actively commenced, California had de- 
termined to be a free State, and not to bear the igno- 
minious stain of slave-holding ; hence the party 
hostility. 

The respect shown to the remains of this popular 
man was very great. His body lay in state for two 
days, during which a continued stream of people poured 
into the place with tearful eyes to take a last look at 

c 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



the lamented advocate of free principles. Above four 
thousand attended his remains to the grave. 

The popular indignation was soon afterwards aroused 
by the burlesque of the trial that Terry underwent. 
He managed to get a change of venue to a district under 
the control of persons friendly to him ; and on the day 
of trial, when the witnesses were to attend, and had 
reached the court-house as they expected in full time 
to be present, they found the trial over and the criminal 
acquitted. The court, it was given out, was to open at 
ten, but really sat at nine, thus deceiving the witnesses 
for the prosecution. The Californians behaved well 
under this mockery of justice, as in other cases of a 
similar aspect. 

I shall not dilate upon my hotel accommodation, 
which lacked no good thing, after the style of the 
Eastern States. Where money was made and lost with 
equal recklessness, it would not be consistent that all it 
could procure should not be within reach. After rest 
and refreshment, I sallied forth with some friends 
to see the City of Gold, as some of its denizens 
denominated it. I can only describe it in an irregular 
manner, as I have characterised my intention before, 
simply because I can do no better without superior 
talents for authorship. 

The city then is marked off in squares by streets that 
cut each other at right angles ; you pass up Clay Street, 
which runs east and west, while Montgomery (the 
[Regent Street of the city) and Sansome Streets cross 
the former, as before stated. I now reached Portsmouth 
Square, unpaved in the central part. Under the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



19 



Spanish rule this was called the Plaza. The town-hall 
stands on the lowest side. It was, of course, not level, 
the site being the side of a hill rising on the west. 
The centre, vacant and implanted, was surrounded by 
wooden railing, and the whole just in such a state as 
might have been expected in a place so recently 
constructed. It is from eighty to a hundred yards 
square. The houses on the lower side are good, and 
promised to be worthy of the city. There were 
two other squares, but Portsmouth was the chief 
one. 

On the right of the town-hall a large building stands 
in place of one which was recently purchased as an 
addition to the hall, and it was to the advantage of the 
square. There was once a house called El Dorado, 
occupying the place of a wooden building cf three 
stories, of the same name and purpose, erected in 1850 
in ten days for a gambling-house. It was stated that 
the most extraordinary scenes took place there which 
imagination can conceive. The gold acquired by hard 
labour had been there squandered by men of every 
nation except the Chinese. Men flocked thither with 
their gains, and were not easy until they partook in 
the chance of increasing their store still farther, or 
losing all. On every side was seen the wildest excite- 
ment at faro tables, monte, roulette, trente-et-un, and 
rouge et noir. There was lost recklessly, in a mode as 
sudden as it was acquired, that gold for which they had 
already risked their health, and were now staking, or 
ready to stake, their last means of existence for more 
or none. There, too, women — not women of America 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



nor England — but of old Spain, Mexico, and Peru, 
might be observed as deeply concerned in the games 
as their companions of the sterner sex. I was informed 
that the Spaniards in general played at monte. 
They won or lost with the same proud indifference 
and deep gravity. This second El Dorado of earlier 
days had passed away, and was replaced by the 
building above mentioned as connected with the 
town-hall. It is built of stone. 

Gambling-houses, though still in a sufficient number 
for mischief, do not now occupy the most conspicuous 
places in the city : so I was informed. Still enormous 
sums are lost and won by gaming. The legislature and 
city authorities professed to be inimical to this enor- 
mous evil, but it was hinted that some of these men 
were guilty of the vice, while in their public characters 
they issued protests against it. 

I was told that the ground on the western side 
of the square or Plaza had been bought before the gold 
discoveries for seven hundred dollars, and that its 
owner afterwards was offered a hundred thousand for 
it, and refused to sell. An hotel called the " West 
End," and the engine-house of a fire company, were all 
yet erected upon that side. 

The Plaza is in a central position, and is about 
to be planted with trees, and to have an iron pali- 
sading. There are shops on the northern and southern 
sides. 

Washington Square is situated at the north end of 
the city, and is a desolate-looking place, having only a 
tree of liberty in the shape of a spliced pole warped by 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



the sun, and a wooden fence to distinguish it. It was 
quite desolate, not a blade of grass meeting the 
traveller's eyes in the whole space. The third square, 
called that of the Union, lies south-west of the Plaza, 
and in appearance is no better than Washington. It 
is, however, situated among a group of much better- 
looking houses. 

I inquired in vain for a park, and demanded if there 
was no public promenade, no alameda as the Spaniards 
call it, who will rarely dispense with it where they are 
masters. I found there was none. I soon began to long 
for shade, as the sun was warm. Here too I got a nega- 
tive reply. Without the city limits the same arid sand 
everywhere met the eye, here and there patched with 
scrubby brushwood, called locally " chapparel," ex- 
ceedingly stunted where it did appear : it was rather 
calculated to increase the sombre feeling thus engen- 
dered than to diminish it. One or two pleasant drives 
were afforded along the bay toward Fort Point, but 
the eyes ached in vain for pleasant woodland walks, or 
meadows, or a solitary corn-field, to tempt the foot- 
steps. The pedestrian found no promenade except in 
the streets and shops. To be obliged to gaze at plate- 
glass windows in place of green fields was a great 
deprivation. 

Upon the foregoing subject I was informed at the 
hotel by a pleasant, conversable man, who had been in 
British Columbia, that the inhabitants of Yictoria, 
though it is a port too, were much better off in this 
respect than those of San Francisco, as in five minutes' 
walking an individual can reach fine umbrage and 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



shaded walks, with the birds singing over his head. 
The San Franciscan has no other course than to cross 
the bay, six or seven miles, for the same comfort, or 
go up into the country, which is exceedingly beau- 
tiful ; but then that occupies too much time to be 
spared from business. 

I was sorry to learn, in regard to British Columbia, 
some time after this allusion to it, that the state of 
labour in Yictoria was most painfully depressing. Thus 
I heard that a gentleman who had once kept up a com- 
fortable establishment in London, and was a member 
of a fashionable club-house, was then actually serving 
out liquor at a bar, and what was more curious still, his 
employer had been a waiter at the very club-house 
of which the individual alluded to had been a 
member ! 

Another gentleman, who had been once a major in 
the army in England, was working there as an ordinary 
labourer at a dollar and a half, or about six shillings, per 
day. Another well-born man had become a cabbage- 
dealer ; and a man bred in England to the law was 
seen washing bottles. One of England's university 
men worked at a forge, happy that he had studied (as 
an amateur at home) the art of shoeing horses so far 
as to be able to practise it, and thus to obtain employ- 
ment. 

The American Attorney- General had for a servant of 
all work the son of a clergyman in the midland counties 
in England, who had worked on the roads in British 
Columbia. A man named Donald Eraser was charged 
by some persons at home with having misled him and 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



others by erroneous statements. He is said to have 
been a correspondent for one of the home newspapers. 
This may or may not be true. There are adventurers, 
not very thoughtful, often ignorant of life out of their 
old track, who are sanguine enough to enter upon 
undertakings for which they are not at all calculated 
— some, perhaps, of desperate fortunes, and others spend- 
thrifts — ignorant of the character and scene, as well 
as of the acquirements needful, supposing they can 
walk into fortune in some country of imaginary Avealth. 
" Distance lends enchantment to the view" of the 
inexperienced and the castle-builder. He whose for- 
tunes are depressed, and can. make no use of a judgment 
inapplicable to his state, ventures his last shilling to 
reach his imaginary El Dorado, finds his error too late 3 
has no funds to return home, and no choice but to 
work, turn menial, or starve. 

To return to San Francisco. That city, under some 
circumstances, is undoubtedly a good field for attaining 
a moderate independence ; but under others, it is one 
of the most depressing possible for sanguine tempera- 
ments. " Money makes money," is an old and true 
saying ; but whatever San Francisco was in its earlier 
days, it is now no exception to that rule. I learnt 
this within the first month of my arrival, and from 
excellent authorit} r . Those who venture there with 
a small capital may always have a good chance, by the 
exercise of extreme caution, of doing well — say, 
with five hundred or five thousand dollars. Those who 
find themselves there without influence or capital, who 
have, in fact, only talents or trade by which to exist, 



24 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

will be most unfortunate. Mechanics will thrive best, 
though almost every kind of labour of that nature is 
overdone ; but for clerks, book-keepers, and salesmen, 
in all branches of business, it is the most hopeless of 
places to find employment. 

I must dwell a little longer upon this point, though 
foreign to my intention in these sketches ; for the sake 
of humanity itself, and after having twice stated my in- 
tention to be desultory, I shall to that end, I trust, be 
excused for a divergence from the description of 
what I observed. I heard of a youth born in the 
country, gentlemanly in manner, trustworthy, and 
writing an excellent hand, who was so long unable to 
get employment, that he went to sea before the mast, 
the captain engaging to teach him navigation, and he 
soon after died on the wave. Numbers land, are dis- 
appointed, and then are obliged to leave as steerage- 
passengers, though arriving in the cabin. I have thus 
dwelt, as I have said, on a subject foreign to my imme- 
diate object, that it may deter adventurers from risking 
their fortunes where defeat in place of success will await 
them.* In the early mining days the population was 

* A letter in a Californian paper now before me, taken from the 
Morning Call, and addressing the editor, says : — 

" Sir, — Your London correspondent, whose letter you published in 
your issue of this day, gives a deplorable account of deaths by starva- 
tion in London. He says you know nothing of this kind, and that 
these are strange things for the people of California to read about in 
their land of plenty. He is much mistaken in that respect : several of 
those that put an end to their miserable sufferings by cutting the 
thread of life did it to shorten their sufferings from the unavoidable 
evil which stared them in the face. I strongly suspect that death by 
starvation will be my end, for I can see at present no prospect of 
avoiding it. I have been out of employment, now, more than three 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 25 



scanty, and things were better as to employment ; but 
even then it was the rougher class, the miners, that 
made their money most rapidly, always excepting the 
capitalist. 

To return to California as I found it : it was greatly 
advanced from its primitive state. In 1850 money was 
not so omnipotent as at present, of which a proof may be 
found in many anecdotes current. Now the stranger can 
be conveyed in a handsome carriage to his hotel. He 
may order anything there, from a sandwich to a turtle, a 
glass of water or the finest champagne, and find perfect 
satisfaction : waiters, style, luxuries of all kinds, and 
appointments fit for a prince ; but he must have money 
in order to meet the kind of accommodation he requires. 

They informed me that, so late as the above year, 
money was not able to do this. A well-dressed gen- 
tleman addressed a shabby, seedy-looking man one day 
at that time : — 

" I will give you a couple of dollars to carry my 
portmanteau for me as far as the Plaza." 

"You will?" said the man. "I'll give you an 
ounce * to see you take it yourself." 

The shabby-looking man was as good as his word, 

months, and in my last employment I earned only two dollars a week. 
I leave you to judge what a fat living I had then ; since then it has been 
much worse. For the last six weeks I have had neither tea, coffee, sugar, 
hutter, cheese, nor meat in my room, and have had only four dinners at 
fifteen cents each, at a dining saloon, during the six weeks. Nearly 
everything I can sell I have disposed of. The owner of the place I 
occupy, out of pure kindness and humanity, permits me to remain rent 
free. I am bordering on eighty years of age. I have worked upwards 
of sixty years, and have lived in comfort and abundance till I came 
to California." — Octogexariax. 
* Sixteen dollars, an ounce of gold. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



for the owner at once shouldered his portmanteau and 
took it to the place required, upon which the man 
whom he had addressed weighed out the ounce on the 
spot, and tendered him a share of a bottle of wine 
which cost as much, or what he called " treated" him. 

This " treating " in the way of potation is a charac- 
teristic of the city of San Francisco. Men well bred, 
lawyers, merchants, and even mechanics, seldom meet 
by accident in the streets, and part after a short con- 
versation, without " taking a drink," a custom to some 
extent imitated from JSTew York. It often happens at 
such times that good-natured men will "treat the 
crowd " — that is, pay for "a drink " for the loungers 
about the counter or door. It is this custom, by no 
means to be defended, which led to the annoyance of 
groups of idlers, or " loafers," as they are called, who 
congregate at the entrance of inns or bars wherever 
spirits are sold. It thus becomes a heavy exaction on 
the purses of clerks, mechanics, and even professional 
men of little practice, who must offend nobody ; for it 
often happens that the party expected to treat is no 
drinker himself. The consequence is, he calls only for 
cider or lemonade for himself. The professional men 
have recently begun to set their faces against a custom 
so unseemly and operating as a tax. 

In the saloons, or places where spirits are sold in this 
mode, all liquors cost about sixpence the glass. A dis- 
tinct feature in such cases from the old world is that 
strong characteristic of the liberality of the American 
habits. In place of pouring out and handing over the 
full glass, the American liquor- seller hands his guest 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 27 

the decanter that he may help himself. Nor is this all ; 
for, in addition, there are provided behind the counter 
where he sits or stands various trifling eatables, as 
bread, cheese, slices of cold meat, Bologna sausage, and 
similar things, from which the parties ordering "a 
drink" may help themselves. On such an occasion, if 
the treater should take the smallest morsel, the loafer 
will not follow the example in the amplitude of his 
"take," which his tribe denominate "free lunches." 

The San Franciscans tell a story of a dog that for 
years visited lunch-tables, until being noticed by every- 
body, he got the name of " Loafer." A fight took place 
one day between two of the canine species in his presence, 
one a wretched mangy thing ; the other, a fine dog, 
was gaining the day, when Loafer dashed in to the 
rencontre, and rescued the poor animal that was getting 
the worst of it. The weaker dog was observed after- 
wards to attach himself to Loafer, and it even refused 
to quit him. This last animal in consequence obtained 
from the lunchers the name of " Lazarus." These two 
dogs were known afterwards as the "city dogs," and in 
consequence obtained the freedom of the city, in the form 
of an immunity from the pound-keeper, who had orders 
to seize all dogs not muzzled, and consign them to 
the pound, whence they cannot be removed until a 
guinea is paid for their ransom. In default of this, 
after a certain time, they are shot. This provision was 
not unreasonable where canine madness is rife. 

In reference to manners — having chanced to walk 
to the hotel rather late soon after my arrival, when 
the streets — thanks, they say, to the old "Vigi- 



28 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

lance Committee " — are as safe as those of a country 
village, and a perfect contrast in peace to those of New 
York, I was struck with the sound of very sweet music 
seeming to come from beneath my feet. Nothing was 
to be seen ; while soft strains, and then louder and 
more lively airs, sometimes even martial notes, came 
upon my ear. The strains of Weber and Beethoven, 
alternating with those of Schubert and Strauss, might 
be caught by snatches. If the notes had not come upon 
the ear of the passenger from beneath in place of above, 
it might be taken for the music of the spheres — 
it was so soft and unearthly. I began to think I 
heard the tabors of " spiritualists " in place of the 
customary music of the day. The listener, however, 
on such occasions, is soon undeceived by a sudden 
snatch of some negro or other popular melody, fol- 
lowed by a thundering shout of applause, all seem- 
ing to issue out of the earth. Cries of " Schwei lagei ! " 
were certain to mingle in a species of chorus. 

This mystery is explained to any one who will choose 
to descend a flight of subterranean stairs leading into 
the basement story of one of the fine buildings near 
by, from whence a gleam of light much stronger than 
that of the street lamps may seem to invite a descent. A 
man will then find himself in what is called a German 
lagerbier saloon. Though so called, it is a place where 
the lagerbier is not the only liquor. Every kind is sold 
there. The customers sit at small tables, which are 
served by attractive-looking girls, who are unfortu- 
nately too often of degraded morals. What better 
could be hoped of females tempted by poverty to 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 29 

accept such, places, exposed, too, to the necessity of 
often accepting liquor from the customer (a " drink ") 
in order to gratify him, for the purpose of pleasing the 
employer by pleasing the customer, or else hazarding 
the retention of their situations ! 

There is generally a pianist, so I was informed, as 
well as a female vocalist, and occasionally a violinist, 
who attend to amuse the company. These musicians 
are paid from four to five dollars, or from sixteen to 
twenty shillings, a night, their duties commencing 
about seven and ending at twelve o'clock. It is said 
that there is a wonderful amount of musical talent 
displayed at some of these places. It is not uncommon 
that the principal female singer is one who had pre- 
viously been a favourite on the stage, but had been 
compelled by reverses or faded charms to descend so 
far down in the display of her professional calling, for 
there are degrees in such callings, if not dignities. 

I was informed, too, and have no reason to doubt the 
truth of my information, that an individual of the old 
French nollesse had been seen exercising his talent on 
the violin at those places for the purpose of procuring 
a livelihood. What a lesson of change for a member 
of the oldest order of nobility in Europe to be thus 
reduced ! but not without its use as a warning to the 
assumptions of the aristocracy of all modern nations, 
based as they are upon stubble, and for so long claiming 
regard from idle tradition and a foundation in airy 
imaginings. In such a case as that of this poor man, 
truth seems stranger than fiction. Who would have 
dreamed of it in the proud days of the Bourbon court, 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



with, all its wit and far- resounding pride and profligacy, 
that one of the " order " should become thus degraded ? 
" Our democracy is laid on a stronger foundation than 
ignorance in coat-armour and turning cut-throats at the 
command of popes or pagans," remarked a shrewd 
Yankee, conversing on the change the French revolu- 
tion had operated. 

It is under such circumstances as those which I thus 
detail that the most striking life-histories are met 
with, and scenes that afford good moral lessons are 
acquired. Many a plot, it was observed to me on 
conversing about these places soon after my arrival,- — 
many a plot for a novel of a soul-stirring kind might 
be picked up from the habitues of such places by a 
careful inquirer. One case which I heard of among 
others much affected me. A young lady who had been 
the heiress to a considerable property, the idol of a 
doting father, was obliged, in consequence of his bank- 
ruptcy, to provide for herself, and even to aid him, an 
invalid, by her own exertions. She considered how she 
should be best able to do it effectually. INo opening 
appeared, difficulties increased, and she was at last com- 
pelled to accept the offer of a place as a musician in a 
lagerbier saloon, on a remuneration above the class 
that was found there in general, or those professionally 
employed. Her acceptance of the post would place 
her and her dependant above want. Neither needle- 
work nor teaching would do this, but it was far more 
humiliating to a feeling mind. After a considerable 
struggle between her modest dread of the public gaze 
and her duteous affection, she became the victim of the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



3* 



necessity of her case. She sang before the crowd with 
a sickened soul those ballads with which she had 
charmed private society in better times before her 
father's friends or guests. Surely there must have 
been no little virtue in such a self-immolation ! 

Another case was related to me, on perceiving the 
interest I took in the former narrative, of a lady who, 
in earlier life, had been a pupil of one of the first 
masters in music. She had found herself, on the un- 
expected decease of her husband, utterly penniless, 
with three infant children dependent upon her. Her 
health was delicate ; her education had not been very 
extended, nor did she appear to possesss talent for 
anything save music. A humble friend proposed to 
her a situation as a pianist in one of the places thus 
alluded to. A second friend proposed to adopt two of 
her children. The struggle was long and painful. 
She finally yielded to duty, and parted with the 
children, having full confidence in the friend to 
whom she confided them. " God forgive me," said 
he heart-broken woman, " if I err in depriving them 
of a parent's care ; but how could I ever endure the 
thought that they should find out that their mother 
had been a musician in a lagerbier saloon, and look 
upon me as degraded ? " 

Such were incidents I heard related in the Western 
El Dorado soon after my arrival, nor are they sur- 
prising, considering the number of persons with and 
without money, and well or ill-educated persons of 
all characters and colour, who came to the city under 
mistaken views, with false calculations in regard to the 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



nature of the place, and of the toil necessary to success, 
until the increase was far beyond the chance of the 
mean proportion of the influx. 

The audiences in these saloons consisted of mixed 
characters. They were generally well attired, for the 
shabbily-dressed persons seen in San Francisco are few 
in number. Here the phlegmatic German lolled along 
the street beside the vivacious Frenchman, and the 
obstinate John Bull was heard debating some knotty 
point with his equally obstinate brother Jonathan, the 
last proving, by the tenacity with which they hold to 
their opinions, the unity and value of their common 
origin. 

The cases of the females I have mentioned above 
recalls another of which I was myself a witness some 
time after my arrival in the city. It was after I had 
set myself down in a quiet and very respectable house, 
where I had been for some time domiciliated, that I met 
with an instance myself of the foregoing nature, which 
fully explains the position of too many who had been 
led to the city by flattering hopes only to suffer the 
extreme of bitter disappointment. In the case to which 
I allude, a refined and delicately-nurtured woman was 
compelled to choose between starvation for her children 
and a life upon the stage for herself. In the quiet and 
respectable house I have before mentioned, my attention 
was drawn one night about twelve o'clock to the cry of 
a child of four or five years of age, proceeding from 
the next bedroom to my own. The little creature was 
craving pitifully for " water — a drink of water." Sur- 
prised that the petition was so long continued, I arose, 



THE GOLDEN GATE: 33 

and finding the door of the room partially open, I 
entered. The room was comfortably, even handsomely 
furnished. It contained two bedsteads, in one of which 
two beautiful children lay slumbering. In the second 
reposed the little creature whose voice had aroused me. 
If I had been struck by the beauty of the other two, I 
was still more surprised at the loveliness of the third, and 
apparently the elder, child. Such lustrous, deep brown 
eyes, heavy from want of sleep, and dewy with tears, 
were never lifted up to mine before. A mass of rich 
brown curls, falling, as I lifted her up, to her waist, 
completed the picture of beauty which met my gaze, as 
unexpectedly as it was rare. Such " spiritual " love- 
liness seemed hardly of the earth. So it proved ; for the 
beautiful little creature has been long since summoned 
to a holier sphere. " What is the matter, darling p." I 
inquired;, as, after receiving the water from my hand, 
and gazing uneasily around the room, she laid her little 
head wearily back on the pillow. " Nothing, ma'am, 
only it seems so long before Stella's mamma comes 
home. I know it is very naughty of me, but I cannot 
go to sleep. I am very sorry I cried and woke you, but 
indeed I could not help it. Lily and baby sleep so 
soundly, they never hear me, and my mouth was so 
dry. Do you mind it very much ? " and again the 
sweet eyes looked appealingly to mine. "Mind it? 
No, indeed, my love." " Thank you, ma'am ; you see 
I could not move out of bed to get the water, for my back 
is hurt so badly. I fell out of the window a little 
while ago, and I am obliged to be carried, or indeed 
I would not have cried." Soothing her as well as I 



34 -FIVE YEARS WIIHIN 

could, and placing water by her bedside (the gas was 
already burning, but turned down low), I at last left 
her sleeping, and returned to my own room, resolved 
to inquire further about those sweet children. I 
learned the next day that their mother, after suffering 
every torture which a heartless and dissipated husband 
could inflict, with whom she had come to California, 
had at last been goaded on to separate from him by his 
brutal desire for her to give her children to be adopted 
by others, declaring that he had no idea of slaving to 
support them, when so many wealthy people (struck, 
of course, by their exceeding loveliness) were willing 
to relieve him of the burden of their support. This 
was too much for the mother's spirit to brook. Upon 
her, indeed, hitherto had devolved the greater share of 
their maintenance. Gathering her little ones to her 
bosom, she told him that henceforth their support 
should be her anxiety, and bid him go on his way 
alone, and rejoice, if he could, in his freedom. She 
sought no divorce ; she wanted none, she said, so long 
as he left her unmolested in a voluntary separa- 
tion. Her next thought was how to maintain her 
children. Reared in refinement herself, she could not 
endure to see her children, endowed as they were with 
such uncommon beauty, roughly clad, coarsely fed and 
nurtured, which was all she could expect to do for 
them by the exercise of her needle. She had no ability 
for the arts available for teaching. She had, however, 
a remarkably sweet voice, and was, indeed, one of the 
most beautiful women I have ever beheld. Tall and 
elegant, even commanding in person, with a wealth of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



flowing dark ringlets, unconfined except by a simple 
fillet of ribbon, which drew them off her intellectual 
forehead ; brown eyes of a liquid lustre, whose expres- 
sion was the most fascinating I ever saw ; and, added 
to all, a dignity of manner which compelled respect, 
she was fitted to grace the most elevated station. It 
may well be supposed that her choice of the stage as a 
profession was at first most distasteful. It was sug- 
gested by the recollection of her school- girl triumphs 
at recitation at a time when she little expected her 
lot would compel her to turn her taste for the 
mimic art to serious account. Her efforts to procure 
engagements were successful, to which her great per- 
sonal attractions were no doubt her chief aid. By the 
salary thus obtained she was able to maintain her little 
ones in comfort, and, what was of inestimable value to 
her maternal heart, to keep them all together around 
her. Still she had not a sufficiently marked ability to 
command the emoluments of a" star." The rent of 
her apartments, the ordinary clothing and board of 
herself and three little ones, combined with the expense 
of a theatrical wardrobe, left her no surplus sufficient 
to maintain and pay a servant to attend to her little 
ones in her absence. Her profession engaged her 
daily at rehearsal from eleven to three o'clock, and at 
night from half- past seven to twelve. When she was 
absent in the evening she told me her only fear was 
fire, but the landlady was very kind, and did not forget 
them. Little Stella's fall had occurred one day while 
she was at rehearsal. She was picked up insensible, 
and, it was feared, injured for life. To those who make 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



a point of railing at the vices of actresses, however 
deserved their strictures may be in many cases, I have 
only to remark that my solitary acquaintance with this 
member of the profession would make me cautious in 
any uncharitable feeling on the point. Then it was 
I became acquainted with the mother of that child 
luring my short stay at the house in question. Shortly 
after I left I heard she had quitted the country. I never 
met a more worthy and laborious woman and mother. 
She told me on one occasion, while the tears stood in her 
eyes, that the worst part of her profession to her was 
not the acting before the public ; that became a mere 
affair of business, sanctified sufficiently by the neces- 
sities of her children to remove all scruples from her 
mind ; it was, she said, the annoyances to which a 
true-minded woman was occasionally subjected by those 
of the opposite sex who could not recognise the 
existence of a high moral nature in any who had 
selected the stage as a profession. They consequently 
persecuted her with attentions and flatteries as fulsome 
as they were insulting. She instanced presents con- 
stantly sent her by an individual of high social standing 
in the city and great wealth — presents as constantly 
returned unopened by her, but which a necessary con- 
sideration for the interests of the manager employing 
her — to whom the patronage of this man was impor- 
tant — compelled her to avoid returning at last with 
the indignant and contemptuous comments proper 
under other circumstances. I mention this fact, 
hoping, as the world is beginning to realise that the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 37 

meanest occupation may be dignified by good qualities 
or virtues in those who follow it, that it may yet be 
credited possible for a beautiful woman, even an actress, 
to possess the highest moral attributes of the worthy 
of her sex. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER III. 

CHINESE EMIGRANTS — THEIR DWELLINGS — TEMPLES CHINESE DOCTORS 

THE MARKETS OF SAN FRANCISCO ITS CHURCHES — REV. THOMAS STARR 

KING MARRIAGES IN CALIFORNIA — THE SPIRITUALIST MANIA MISS 

EMMA HARDINGE AN IMPROVISATORE SUNDAY LAW — BANKRUPTCY 

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS — CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCES — TOILETTES OF 
THE LADIES. 

I was not long in San Francisco before I discovered 
what a prominent position the John Chinamen, as they 
are called, occupy in the city. The population of this 
class was estimated at many thousands in the past year 
of 1860. They hold no mean place in the political 
economy of the city, as well as of California generally. 
The back alleys^ consisting of crazy wooden buildings, 
are tenanted by vast numbers of the " Celestials," and 
by them a great proportion of the menial duties of 
every household is performed. Here and there signs 
may be seen which signify that Cits Lee or Tung 
Sing does washing and ironing for the public on terms 
with, the moderation of which neither the "French 
laundry" nor the coloured women, who are excellent 
laundresses, can for a single moment attempt to com- 
pete. Notwithstanding his low prices, the China- 
man merits all the extensive patronage he receives. 
When he is overburdened with business — for he never 
refuses any, whether he can fulfil his undertaking or 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 39 

not — the linen receives less care, and naturally gives 
less satisfaction. 

John is the name bestowed by the Californians upon 
all the Chinese who thus labour. Besides these there 
are the wealthy merchants of that nation — very serious, 
dignified men, who carry on a profitable trade in teas, 
rice, and sugar. These " gentlemen " — for such their 
uniform courtesy and honesty entitle them to be named 
— are usually the consignees of cargoes of the truer 
order of Chinese, who, as I was informed by individuals 
acquainted with the nature of the intercourse, are 
bondsmen, compelled to pay so much of their earnings 
to their masters. The arrogance and exorbitant 
demands of the majority of female servants in Cali- 
fornia have operated very unfavourably against their 
true interests, by inducing numbers of families with 
moderate incomes to employ Chinamen or boys as 
domestics. These not only work for a much smaller 
remuneration, but are exceedingly neat and cleanly in 
household affairs, and the acknowledged industry of 
their race is in no way diminished by their employ- 
ment in this capacit}^. They are never seen idle. 
When the common course of the day's labour is over, 
they will be observed with a feather broom incessantly 
dusting, if no other labour is to be found. They make 
good and affectionate nurses, though for my own part 
I prefer the care of a member of one's own race for 
that purpose, while I am aware this is nothing but a 
matter of prejudice. 

It is a commonly-received opinion that the Chinese 
are very dishonest, — that is, the lower classes. !N"o 



40 , FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

doubt many are so. There are thieves of every nation 
and race, and John Chinaman, when appearing as a rag- 
collector, fish-pedler — for he makes a good livelihood by 
fishing — and so forth, is not to be trusted. The hen- 
roost, too, is said to present a great temptation to John. 
Not a day passes but some one of his vast family is under 
conviction for stealing poultry. Notwithstanding this, 
whoever has a desire to engage a Chinese servant 
repairs to one of the principal resident Chinese mer- 
chants before mentioned, who will procure one suitable, 
and himself becomes responsible to any amount for the 
honesty of the man whom he recommends. Chinamen 
so recommended are constantly employed in families 
possessing valuable jewellery, especially diamonds, for 
which American ladies have a weak predisposition, the 
wives of clerks and salesmen, and even of mechanics, 
being seldom observed without a diamond ring or ear- 
rings worth forty or fifty pounds, when no more. Yet 
the instance of a dishonest Chinese servant recommended 
as above is rare. I never heard of a case in any family 
with which I was acquainted where a Chinaman was 
employed, and I had soon a pretty large acquaintance 
in the place. This, I imagine, was to be attributed to 
their fear of their own countrymen, who had made 
themselves responsible for their honesty. 

The common class of Chinamen herd together in the 
dirty back alleys of the city, where the atmosphere 
reeks with impurity. For a suitable description of one 
of the localities favoured by their preference, I cannot 
do better than present the following from a local 
paper : — 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 41 

" In one of the most chaotic-looking places in our 
Christian city, where may be seen at a single glance a 
sample of everything that was ever comprehended under 
the name of filth and squalor, stands a dingy, rickety row 
of low- frame tenements, begrimed with dirt and smoke, 
and forming a background in perfect harmony with 
the miscellaneous offal and garbage which the com- 
munity of Chinese scavengers who inhabit the place 
have accumulated by months of industry. The build- 
ings on either side swarm with these unkempt Pagans, 
who seem to dread pure air as one would dread the 
deadly upas-tree. The incense of their sacred censers 
mingles with the all-pervading stench, intensifying 
it to such a degree, that only a fumigation with a 
flambeau of Greek fire might mitigate the noisome 
abomination. A flight of stairs, that promises the 
venturesome climber a descent to the ground at some 
unexpected moment, leads to what might be imagined 
a balcony. From this a door opens into the sacristy 
and chapel of the Josh- worshipping scavengers. Here 
we see the usual hideous effigies, representing the 
triune idea of the Chinese. The Great Thunderer, whose 
supposed immensity is said to have filled the universe 
for a thousand years — the chief person of their trinity 
— is represented in the similitude of a fat, flabby- 
looking doll, decked out in many-hued paper vest- 
ments. His shrine is approached with awe. On 
either hand are Cyclopean fellows, rampant, trampling 
under foot what is supposed to be some infernal quad- 
ruped, the likeness of nothing known in terrestrial 
zoology. 



42 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



" Passing the veil amid the din and clangour of 
gongs, we enter the holy of holies. Here is the high 
altar, and here is what none unlearned in pagan theo- 
logy can attempt to describe. Here the aristocratic 
priest and the better classes who go up to worship are 
parodied. Here in this hotbed of impurity is the 
centre depot of Chinese scavengers. Here they daily 
deposit their collections of offal and garbage ; here 
they reek and vegetate ; here they inculcate their 
vices, practise their divinations, and perform their 
devotions. Josh, Devil, and Mongolian in one triad, 
with Christianity blazing all around, yet unable to 
penetrate the darkness that entombs them — the wall 
of prejudice in which they are fortified. " 

I once noticed in the Nevada Gazette the following 
story, which may serve to illustrate the character of 
the most degraded class of Chinamen ; in other words, 
the thieves and their cunning : — 

" Some weeks ago a Chinaman was convicted of 
grand larceny, and sentenced to four years' imprison- 
ment. The night before his departure for San Quentin 
(the State prison of California) he contrived to shove 
the blankets belonging to his bed through the grating 
of his cell to a confederate on the outside, with a note, 
which ran about as follows : — ' To mollow I go jail 
four year. You chatchum blanket. I come back, you 
pay me the dollar.' The note was found, but the 
county is still minus the blankets." 

The last excitement, or rather the rage, when I 
quitted San Francisco, was for Chinese doctors ! I 
believe that one of them had really performed some 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 43 

remarkable cures. He was possibly a learned man in 
the Esculapian profession in bis own country. Tbe 
public, always ready for a new sensation, soon made 
him tbe fasbion. In consequence I quickly saw tbe 
names of innumerable otber Cbinese doctors intruded 
on public notice in tbe streets. People, ridiculous as it 
may appear, were found to patronise tbem, and Doctor 
" Jobns " without end gave up the laundry and fish- 
ing business for the more profitable and less laborious 
one of gulling the credulous whites. Something of 
the joke was turning to account when I left. Carica- 
tures were seen depicting sapient-looking Chinamen 
demurely feeling the pulses of their patients, with 
interpreters standing by, and a couple of Chinamen in 
the street outside looking at the " doctors' " sign, and 
exclaiming, " Melican man velly great fool ! " 

At regular periods troops of Chinese are seen visiting 
the resting-place pro tern, of their departed friends, 
who, sooner or later, are all conveyed back to the 
Celestial Empire. Their bodies, even those of the 
poorest, are never suffered to be permanently in a 
foreign land. The women carry provisions to the 
graves on these occasions. At the decease of a 
" Celestial "■ a great feast is made for the dead, and 
fireworks let off. 

There is still great prejudice existing against China- 
men in California. It is hardly to be wondered at that 
the working classes should, as usual, view with jealousy 
any encroachments made by foreigners upon the dif- 
ferent branches of their labour.* In the case of house- 

* Cigars manufactured by Chinese labour are among the exports of 
California. 



44 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

hold servitude it is a blessing to the community ; for 
while the ratio of remuneration has greatly decreased 
in almost every other employment, house- servants per- 
sist in demanding the same high rate of wages they 
readily obtained in the golden days of California. 
Waiters at restaurants, often married men with families 
to keep, who used to receive seventy-five dollars per 
month in those days, are now obliged to be contented 
with forty, while servant- girls, whose board and lodging 
are found them, demand fully as much. 

But when John Chinaman, with his parsimonious 
economy in food, eating, as he does, rats and lights, 
and stuff which costs hardly anything to procure, is 
placed by manufacturers and capitalists in competition 
with the mechanic who has a wife and children to sup- 
port, the case is a hard one for the Caucasian artisan. 
It is difficult to say what legislation can righteously do 
to protect the sufferer in this case. The cry, so fre- 
quently raised by the narrower-minded Americans 
against all foreigners, forgetting that only the red man 
has a legal right to the soil they themselves inhabit, is 
often resorted to in this matter. " They have no busi- 
ness here ; the Government ought not to suffer them to 
come," says Mrs. Grundy. "True, my dear lady; 
but while the English and Americans are forcing 
Chinese and Japanese both to open their ports to us, 
we can hardly keep ours closed to them in the face of 
the world. How this evil is to be remedied in justice 
to all parties is a question for wiser heads than yours 
or mine to decide." 

The markets, to return to my narrative, are a 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 45 



creditable feature of San Francisco. There are two 
— the " Washington" and "Metropolitan." Both 
are of considerable extent, the Washington being the 
larger. They are entirely roofed in. The stalls are 
kept in a state of exceeding cleanliness. Fish and 
vegetable stalls usually occupy the central rows. 
Butchers' stalls lie chiefly on one side of the market- 
places. The supply of vegetables, owing to the mild- 
ness of the climate, is very great throughout the year. 
Fruit of all kinds, from the strawberry to the water- 
melon, is plentiful in the summer, but, excepting apples 
and oranges, is rare during the winter months. One 
November, however, during my residence in California, 
the second crop of blackberries for that season was 
gathered in Humboldt county, and a winter peach 
measuring eight inches around. Grame, consisting of 
venison, hares, rabbits, wild geese, chicks, and quails, 
is abundant. That superb English bird, the pheasant, 
is never seen there, although there is an apology for it 
in the shape of a wild bird so called, no way resem- 
bling it. The poulterers' stalls, so far as tame poultry 
is concerned, are amusing enough to look at. As a 
stranger, I wondered wherever such a collection of 
lean, scraggy, half-starved-looking fowls had been col- 
lected. I found they are left pretty much to " scratch 
for a living," no care being taken to fatten them. The 
butchers' meat, in comparison with that in English 
butchers' shops, is very lean, and indifferent eating, 
especially mutton. The reason of this is, that animals 
are driven into the city with no preparatory fattening 
whatever taking place, and thus slaughtered. The 



46 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

cattle are of an inferior breed too often, called Spanish, 
if I recollect rightly. The Christmas beef is an excep- 
tion, being expressly fattened, and yery good eating ; 
not much superior, however, to what may be found any 
day in. the London markets, and much less fat, assuredly, 
than English "prize" beef — perhaps all the better for 
that, the latter being so to a disgusting degree. For 
" Christmas prize-beef" in San Francisco an enormous 
price is obtained, none being sold off the prime oxen at 
less than a dollar (four and twopence) per pound. Fish 
is procured from the bay and harbour chiefly by Italian 
fishermen, who sell it to the fishmongers in the markets. 
There are no fishmongers' shops apart from the place. 
A few Chinese hawk fish around the suburbs, or else 
people have to send to the markets for what they 
require. 

San Francisco may be proud of her churches. They 
are above thirty in number. There are two Catholic 
cathedrals, both fine and capacious buildings. There is 
a pretty French Catholic church, and also a large chapel 
attached to the new college of St. Ignatius. There 
are, doubtless, others with which I am unacquainted. 
" Grace Cathedral," a beautiful edifice in the purely 
Gothic style of architecture, with remarkably fine 
stained- glass windows, is the property of the Episcopal 
Church, or Church of England. That persuasion like- 
wise owns " Trinity Church " and the " Church of the 
Advent." They lately sold one to the coloured mem- 
bers of their religion. The Congregationalists have a 
fine place of worship. The Presbyterians own perhaps 
the prettiest church of all, excepting the cathedrals. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 47 

They have two churches, I believe, and so have 
the Baptists. The Methodists have lately erected a 
fine church with two steeples. I am not aware how 
many more edifices are possessed by each body in the 
country. The new Unitarian Church is a handsome 
building, erected at the instance and under the auspices 
of the lamented philanthropist, the Rev. Thomas 
Starr King. This gentleman was the author of a work 
upon the White Mountains. Born of good family, he 
was still essentially a self-made man, and rose from the 
obscure position of a country schoolmaster to an emi- 
nence which caused his death, at the early age of forty 
years, to be mourned by a whole continent. His obse- 
quies were celebrated with national honours. Of the 
labours of this liberal-hearted minister in the cause of 
humanity and progress it might be irrelevant to speak 
here. He was the mainspring of that world-famous 
Sanitary Commission which performed so much in miti- 
gating the horrors of the late war, and it was chiefly 
in labouring for that and similar objects that he sacri- 
ficed his life. As an orator, scholar, philanthropist, 
patriot, and gentleman, his name is the boast of Cali- 
fornia. Her liberality raised the noble edifice which 
became the "monument" of that eminent man. The 
high tone of the character which in all things followed 
the Christian rule, " Do as you would be done by," 
was in nothing better evidenced than by his dying 
remark: "Do not suffer your church to get in debt, 
for it is my monument," he observed to the mourning 
members of his congregation around his death-bed. 
The writer, herself an Episcopalian, cannot forbear 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



remarking to the readers of another continent a sublime 
death-scene of far California. While sorrowing friends 
stood around bathed in tears, with his eyes fixed on the 
loved forms of his wife and daughter, and especially on 
his last treasure, his infant and only son, so soon to be 
deprived of the inestimable benefit of such a father's 
example and protection, the expiring champion of 
humanity calmly employed his failing powers in the 
enunciation of his favourite psalm, " The Lord is my 
Shepherd, I shall not want," recited it to the end, and 
died with its last verse still trembling on his lips. The 
Christian world generally is loud in its condemnation 
of the Unitarian creed. What creed, most presump- 
tuous in its arrogation of acceptance before the Almighty, 
could present, in any of its votaries, a purer life or a 
sublimer and more triumphant death ? I recollect a 
striking remark made on the subject, with the usual 
shrewdness of childhood, by a little girl, shortly after 
the death of Mr. King. Her relatives were speaking 
of his religious faith to some friends at their table, and 
lamenting the peculiar tenets of the Unitarian Society, 
as is customary with many well-disposed persons who 
would be better exercised in recalling that beautiful 
prayer of Pope's : — 

" Let not this weak, unknowing hand 
Presume thy bolts to throw, 
Or deal damnation round the land 
On each I judge a foe." 

The child in question, looking up in her mother's 
face, inquired : " Mamma, was not Mr. King a Chris- 
tian ?" " No, my dear," was the bigoted reply ; " he 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 49 

was an infidel." The child paused a moment or two, 
as if lost in thought. At length, " Mamma/' she con- 
tinued, " do infidels say, i The Lord is my Shepherd V " 

Marriages in California are frequently celebrated at 
night. There is something, perhaps, more impressive 
in ceremonies performed at such an hour than in those 
solemnised in daylight. The convenances of costume 
are often infringed at such times by the wealthy 
ignorant. One evening I witnessed the marriage of a 
lovely girl, simply yet suitably attired in white, with a 
delicate veil and wreath, all harmonising with the 
wearer's position, youth, and beauty. Immediately 
after followed the nuptial service of a dame who, it 
may be, conscious of too advanced an age for virgin 
white, wore a very sensible brown silk dress ; but she 
thought to compound the question with youth and 
fashion by robing her head in a white tulle veil and a 
wreath of myrtle blossoms incongruous enough when 
contrasted with her dress. The bridegroom was a fat, 
florid, elderly personage, who appeared to' me an honest, 
respectable, hard-working man enough. I was told 
the happy couple enjoyed a handsome competency, and 
rejoiced in the possession of " an elegant homestead." 

The Spiritualistic mania I found had reached the 
shores of the Pacific long years ago, and the extrava- 
gancies of the system have at present nowhere more 
credulous votaries to back up its absurdities. Certain 
it was that it entered many families, "not to bring 
peace, but a sword." The annals of spiritualism in 
America present a frightful aggregate of ignorance, 
domestic unhappiness, and discord. Whether this be 



50 , FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

attributable to the working of spirits or not is difficult 
to determine. Human nature in every country, and 
under every form of political or spiritual government, 
is human nature still, and that creed which shall best 
succeed in improving the condition of humanity by 
permeating the duties of daily life with an ever-present 
3onsciousness of our own personal insignificance, with 
our duty towards our neighbour and accountability 
towards God, will surely be that most approved by 
Him, be it Episcopalianism, TInitarianism, or any other 
creed conscientiously believed. " By their fruits ye shall 
know them." 

I attended several spiritualist lectures in San Fran- 
cisco. Some, as the result plainly proved, were catch- 
penny affairs, — the efforts of undoubted charlatans. 
I remember deriving pleasure from a lecture delivered 
by a lady, since deceased, a woman of considerable 
repute in America, and deservedly so, — Mrs. Eliza Farn- 
ham, authoress of "Woman and her Era." She was 
handsome, dark-haired and dark-eyed, modestly attired 
in a dress of black watered silk, and read her lectures 
in a quiet, ladylike, and unobtrusive manner. More 
striking, if not more solid, was the impression produced 
by a course of lectures delivered there by an English 
lady, Miss Emma Hardinge, a woman of genius, appa- 
rently between thirty and forty years of age, with 
clear, intellectual grey eyes, pleasing expression of 
countenance, and elegant manners. She is said to be 
the only rival of the noted Anna Dickenson in the art 
of feminine oratory. Well educated, with a good com- 
mand of language, she drew crowded audiences to her 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 51 

Lectures on Spiritualism. Not the least of her attrac- 
tions was her easy and graceful gesticulation. I was 
told she had been on the stage eight years, which would 
account for the elegance of her attitudes. Her style 
was logical, her language flowery. The funeral oration 
of the 'Rex. Starr King, pronounced by her, affected me 
much more than the eloquence of any speaker I ever 
heard. I was sorry to learn that Miss Hardinge, 
capable of the sternest efforts of reason as she un- 
doubtedly would be thought, was contented to sink 
her own gifts of intellect and genius from nature at 
the feet of a power to whose influence alone she is 
contented to ascribe them. Her learning was too 
palpable to be thus flimsily veiled, however, in the 
eyes of any but the ignorant or credulous. The 
strongest argument against spiritualism I have ever 
known was, to me, this merging of almost peerless and 
positive talent in a mystical ideal. 

A very different character I heard in California was 
a man who assumed the talent of an improvisatore, 
without in the smallest degree possessing it. He more- 
over feigned, while "under the influence/' to be in 
turns possessed by the spirits of various defunct poets, 
according to the will of different members of his audi- 
ence, who by turns selected the subject from the poet 
to be imitated; thus, "Beauty," by Byron, elicited a 
wonderful piece of sickly sentimentality, with as little 
rhyme as reason ; and so on, to nauseousness. 

The legislature of California, in a fit of homage to 
Sunday, at one time made strenuous efforts to enforce the 
stoppage of every kind of traffic on that day. They 



52 ■ FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

succeeded, after considerable difficulty, in preventing all 
traffic during church hours, and suffering only grocery 
stores, where liquors as well as groceries are sold, to 
be opened on Sunday. There are no public-houses. 
The fashion of California is the lagerbier saloon, before 
described, for mere liquor- drinkers, and the grocery for 
the accidental wants of bottles of wine or spirit for 
families that may not choose to purchase wine by the 
dozen, or beer by the cask, from the wine merchants 
or at the breweries. 

San Francisco, only a few years since the sanctuary 
of incorrigible rowdyism, is to-day one of the most 
orderly cities in the world. ]No vagabonds of either 
sex are to be found, as in New York, patrolling its 
streets at late hours, and making night hideous with 
their discordant and degrading mirth. Incredible as 
it may appear, San Francisco can fairly challenge the 
world for public decorum. It is asserted, per contra, 
that there exists within its precincts a frightful amount 
of private immorality. That may be correct. Yet, 
so far as it is possible for an observer to judge, it will 
favourably compare with any other large city existing. 
I gleaned no statistical information on the matter, and 
possibly those who take an opposite view may have 
done so as to private immorality ; if they have, theirs 
must be the correct version of the case, but ostensibly 
it is otherwise. Failures of large firms are common. 
So wild are the speculations, and so vaulting is the 
ambition of the majority of business men, that this is 
a social feature no way surprising. Bankrupts usually 
find little difficulty in obtaining credit and re-esta- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 53 

Wishing themselves in business. Frequently in other 
countries the worst sufferers by the husband's bank- 
ruptcy are his innocent wife and children. California 
has nobly provided for this class of victims by her 
" Homestead Law." By the provisions of this law every 
husband can settle on his wife, by simply recording it 
as such, a homestead, which, with its necessary appur- 
tenances of furniture, shall be secured from the 
demands of her husband's business creditors. This 
admirable law, like almost every institution originating 
in humane feeling, may have its abuses. What is there 
socially existing without ? 

An allusion to the charitable institutions of San 
Francisco may not be out of place. Thus, the Pro- 
testant Orphan Asylum is a fine building, situated 
some distance from the city, in grounds of its own. 
The Catholic Orphan Asylum, under the charge of 
the Sisters of Charity, is in one of the principal 
streets. Both institutions are chiefly supported by 
voluntary contributions, and both receive some slight 
assistance from the State. It is a known and marked 
feature of the American Government, in many respects 
so admirably worthy of imitation, that it affords equal 
encouragement to all classes, civil or religious. The 
institutions alluded to are the recipients of much 
liberality at annual feasts and public holidays. At 
Christmas, for example, the owners of poultry stalls in 
the various markets, first-class grocers, and others, send 
liberal donations of game, poultry, raisins, tea, coffee, 
and sugar, for the benefit of the orphan institutions. 
Christmas, however, is not so exclusively regarded as a 



54 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

holiday as New Year's Day and the 4th of July. This 
is doubtless attributable to the Puritan element, which 
naturally sought to put down all festivals or religious 
holidays instituted by Papists. America instead has 
her annual " Thanksgiving Day," which, being an 
occasion for unlimited feasting and jollity, is generally 
observed. It occurs upon the 24th of November, and 
is the season for that annual gathering of familiar 
faces at the festive board which in England belongs 
exclusively to " merrie Christmas." New Year's Day 
is observed much as the French keep it. The ladies 
remain at home, receiving the calls of all their gentle- 
man friends. Eefreshments are served, varying from 
the recherche champagne and exquisite French con- 
serves, crystallised fruits, delicate and elegant trifles 
offered with good taste by the haut month on such 
occasions, to the loaded tables of the parvenus or 
nouveaux riches, which literally groan under the weight 
of turkeys, poultry, and food of every description, as 
the unhappy callers inwardly also groan at being com- 
pelled to partake of these collations at every house of 
the kind they enter, where madam's whole soul is 
absorbed in making them devour more than they wish 
to do, and afterwards perilling her wits t6 discover 
whether Mrs. B. over the way "set a better table" 
than she did. 

"Such is life," at least New Year's life, in San 
Francisco, and New York parallels it in this respect. 
Sensible people there are who are so disgusted with 
the custom, resulting often in actual inebriation among 
the men, that they significantly hang out a basket 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



at tlieir hall doors to receive the cards of callers, as a 
hint that they are not at home. Others, who really 
desire to keep up a sociable custom in its pristine 
simplicity, risk the innuendoes of Mrs. Grundy by daring 
to offer nothing more than a glass of wine and a slice 
of cake to those who pay them the compliment of call- 
ing at that season. The ladies of many families at such 
times indulge in considerable gaiety of the toilette. I 
remember one lady, the wife of a gentleman who pos- 
sessed a comfortable competence, but only kept one 
servant, presiding over the luncheon spread in her 
dining-room, on a New Year's morning, in a superb 
crimson velvet dress which would assuredly not have 
been unsuited to a reception at St. James's ! Yet her 
taste in ordinary dress was quiet. As before remarked, 
American women generally are fonder of showy toilettes 
in the street than either their French or English sisters. 
In the ball-room, at evening parties, or on any full- 
dress occasion, the English lady is not an unworthy 
rival of the French belle. The tenor of her education, 
to the credit of her country, is usually such as to give a 
higher tone to her ambition than an overwhelming de- 
votion to dress, such as is undoubtedly too generally the 
failing of the French and American ladies. They show 
it not only on the dress occasions where the English 
women especially shine, but on all possible opportunities 
for exhibiting the splendour of their costume, be it ball 
or promenade, or, as far as the American is concerned, 
the street, where she invariably decks herself in the 
utmost amount of jewellery she can wear. It is true 
that custom in America deprives her of the privilege 



56 'FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

of full dress at the theatre and opera, it being usual 
there to appear in bonnets. Madame rAmericaine, 
however, compensates herself for this by wearing the 
most airy or brilliant toilette possibly compatible with 
the bonnet ; and if graceful necks and rounded arms 
are veiled from public gaze, the glories and gaieties of 
Epsom and Ascot toilettes, at least, are rivalled by 
them at those places of public resort. Since the Prince 
of Wales's visit, however, on which occasion, in com- 
pliment to him, full dress was worn at the opera, there 
has been a sprinkling of fair dames with hardihood 
sufficient to attempt an innovation on the long-existing 
mode. They wear " Nubias," or woollen coverings for 
the head, of which, in consequence of the want of 
cloak-rooms in American theatres, they are compelled 
to disencumber themselves in the dress-circle itself. 
Gentlemen rarely take the trouble to make any altera- 
tion in their daily toilette for the theatres in San Fran- 
cisco, unless it be for the opera, and then white gloves 
on their part are the exception rather than the rule. 
'White waistcoats, one would suppose, are at a pre- 
mium, for they are very rarely seen. 



THE GOLDEN GA7E. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FASHIONABLE BOARDING-HOUSES — HOSPITALITY SOCIAL REGIMEN — 

POLITENESS OP THE LOWER CLASSES OF AMERICAN MEN TOWARDS THE 
OPPOSITE SEX — CONTRAST TO IT AMONG THAT CLASS OF ENGLISHMEN 

— MANNERS OF THE GENTLEMEN AS SEEN IN THE STREET CARS 

RESTAURANTS — CALIFORNIAN WINES — VINEYARDS — PEACH ORCHARDS 

METHOD OF COOKING THE TOMATO PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM FIRE 

COMPANIES FAST YOUNG LADY — BALLS AND PARTIES— THEATRES 

EARTHQUAKES — STREET RAILWAYS — CRYSTAL SPRINGS. 

One of the most salient features of American life is 
their patronage, not merely of large hotels, but of 
fashionable boarding-houses. It is in San Francisco 
as in "New York. Newly-married couples, averse to 
the anxieties of housekeeping, caring nothing for that 
sweet domestic retirement which to the English mind 
constitutes so much of the prospective enjoyment at such 
an era in life, commonly take up their abode, at least 
for the earlier years of marriage, at some fashionable 
hotel or boarding-house. Others of less influence, 
importance, or means, take furnished rooms at a stylish 
lodging-house, and eat at some of the restaurants 
with which the cities abound. The motive is obvious. 
"While it deprives them of much of the pleasures of 
society, it enables them to make a much better 
appearance socially than they could do, with the 
expenses of hospitality to maintain, in a house whose 
rent would cost them no more than their rooms at the 



58 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

lodging-house. It is grievous to see such a strong love 
for ostentation pervading every class of society as even 
republican America undeniably presents to the stranger. 
The chief evil of the midde class of English society 
is, that it displays the same anxiety to "keep up 
appearances." But, to do England justice, it is chiefly 
evidenced in discharging the duties of an exaggerated 
housekeeping hospitality, not in the avoidance of them. 
Americans are notoriously a very generous people, and 
it is saddening to see their love of display darkening 
the pristine simplicity of a noble republicanism, and 
that to the extent it assuredly does at the present day. 
Moreover, this same system of restaurant and lodging- 
house or hotel life, as the case may be, coupled with 
the passion for dress of the women, who are among the 
most beautiful in the world, goes far towards rendering 
them the mere puppets of society. With none of the 
thousand delightful home duties, which are the pride 
and pleasure of every true woman, devolving upon 
them — usually educated, or rather half- educated, in 
those hotbeds of frivolity and superficiality, large 
seminaries (the larger the more fashionable) — thrown 
entirely upon their own resources for pleasure or occu- 
pation during the husband's daily engagements in 
the duties of his profession or business — they but 
too often trifle away the precious hours of existence 
to an extent inconceivable by the English matron, 
who is absorbed either in family duties or those of 
hospitality, and even in the highest and most fashion- 
able ranks will occupy leisure hours in unosten- 
tatious cares for the poor of the immediate neigh- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 59 



bourhoocl, with, too high a sense of moral account- 
ability to spend an undue portion of the time which 
can never be recalled upon mere personal adorn- 
ment. The daughters of the highest aristocracy, it is 
notorious in England, are .no way to be distinguished 
in the street from those inferior in rank, unless it be 
by the exceeding plainness of their attire. It has been 
the habit of many newspaper correspondents and others, 
particularly those writing from Paris, to contrast un- 
favourably the toilettes of Englishwomen there with 
those of their American and French friends. Let the 
former rather receive it as a credit than otherwise that 
they rely more on the qualities of head and heart than 
on the face, beautiful as even these critics usually admit 
them to be, or on the skill of their milliners, for the 
influence they wield in society. It is absurd to sup- 
pose, were the energies of the cultivated classes of 
Englishwomen directed that way, or more, were they 
willing to cramp the incomes of their husbands to the 
necessary extent, that they could not as easily attain 
the art of perfection in dress as in the varied accom- 
plishments in which they usually excel. The real 
truth is, they do not estimate fashion so highly, and it 
is to be hoped they never will. The higher ranks feel 
that mere dress cannot elevate them. To be elegantly 
and becomingly dressed is a duty every woman owes to 
society. To worship dress is the abuse of that duty. 
To so great an extreme does this proceed among Ame- 
rican women, that the wife, possibly of a mechanic or 
small tradesman, whose husband can afford but one 
servant, supposing them to " keep house," is unhappy 



6o FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

without a "point-lace set," diamond rings and ear- 
rings, and a costly set of furs, the latter alone ranging 
in value from £50 to £100 ! 

I am not in the slightest degree afraid of incurring 
the animosity of sensible American women by these 
remarks. Their opinion on these points, I am satis- 
fied, will coincide with mine, having frequently 
heard the subject discussed and deplored by women 
whose merits are not surpassed anywhere else in the 
world. 

England can discover much worthy of imitation in 
the noble institutions and aids to human progress which 
are so liberally put forth by America. In the matter 
of social refinement, so far at least as the middle and 
upper classes are concerned, America can find much 
excelling theirs in the life and habits of their English 
cousins, if not as far as regards what is termed the lower 
class. The American, in point of politeness, espe- 
cially towards women, in information, and general 
good breeding (always excepting the use of the spit- 
toon), is far superior to the Englishman. If a group 
of men in America stand on the pavement — and in 
San Francisco the name of the groups that thus stand 
there is " legion " — and a lady, no matter how 
poorly dressed, passes along, the group instantaneously 
retires on one side to give her room to pass. In 
London no notice whatever would be taken of her. 
Again, when a mail steamer arrives, as it does only 
semi-monthly in San Francisco, there is naturally a 
great rush to the post-office, letters not being delivered 
at the door by postmen, as in England. It is true 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 61 

there is a window exclusively for ladies, which might 
account for husbands or fathers who call for their 
relatives' letters feeling bound to give ladies the pre- 
cedence there ; but, vice versa, let a lady approach the 
gentleman's window, and not a man will press forward 
till she is served. I remember being greatly struck 
with the contrast in cases presented to my notice in 
this respect on my arrival in England. Advancing to 
secure my ticket at the railway depot, I found only two 
persons, who doubtless considered themselves eminently 
entitled to the name of " gentlemen," before me at the 
window. There was ample time, and certainly no 
excuse possible for the rude manner in which thev 
determinedly excluded me from a precedence, which, 
seeing no necessity for haste, I had not the smallest 
intention of taking. A matter of life or death, at the 
latest possible moment for securing tickets in a crowd, 
might have excused such a breach of good manners, 
but here no ground for it existed. 

This chivalrous feeling of deference towards women 
is greatly abused in San Francisco. The street cars 
are not limited to carrying only a certain number of 
passengers, as they are in England. The conductors 
make a constant practice of taking up more passengers 
than they can seat, well knowing that a female is 
secure of a seat so long as one gentleman remains 
sitting ; and frequently not until every gentleman in 
the vehicle has so resigned his place does the conductor 
cease to take up female passengers. On wet days 
especially is this nuisance carried on. As the practice 
simply suffices to fill the pockets of the omnibus pro- 



62 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

prietors, it struck nie that gentlenien should make a 
more decided stand against it. At late hours on a wet 
night only is it excusable, for ladies themselves do not 
like to feel, in entering a public conveyance, that they 
will probably cause some gentleman to lose the seat for 
which he has paid, and of which his courtesy ought not 
to be suffered to deprive him, as it assuredly will, 
rather than he will be content to lie under the imputa- 
tion of a deficiency in politeness towards a woman. Of 
course the law ought to put an end to the practice by 
making it illegal for public carriages to carry more 
than a specific number of passengers. I am obliged to 
admit also that women are too apt to lose sight of 
courtesy in the custom, and omit even an expression of 
thanks to those who so unselfishly promote their 
comfort. 

The restaurants, as before suggested, form a striking- 
feature in San Francisco economy. There are several 
first-class French restaurants where a good breakfast, 
claret included, may be obtained for half a crown. 
Some of no mean pretensions are to be found in Mont- 
gomery Street, kept by Americans and others. These 
have a large room for gentlemen, and a separate apart- 
ment of spacious dimensions for the accommodation of 
ladies and their attendants. These rooms are always 
handsomely carpeted and fitted with two or more large 
mirrors. Tables accommodating from two to four per- 
sons are thickly scattered about, ready prepared for 
dining. Here, from 6 a.m. till noon, breakfast, con- 
sisting of food served a V Americcrfne, may be had in the 
shape of coffee, tea, or chocolate, with fitting accom- 



THE GOLDEN GA TE. 63 

pauiinents of steaks, cutlets, broiled fowl, fried fish, and 
those chef-cVceuvres of American culinary art, " buck- 
wheat," "corn-batter," or "flannel" cakes. These 
cakes resemble the pancake in size and shape. Buck- 
wheat cakes are made from a peculiar kind of flour. 
Thev are common in Germany as well as in America, 
but I never ate them in England. Corn-batter cakes 
are prepared from the flour of the Indian corn, and the 
flannel cake resembles the Shropshire " pikelet." The 
favourite dish called " waffles" by the Americans is 
similar to the English " gauffres." Dinner, consisting 
of soups, joints, poultry, game, fish, and pastry, can be 
obtained at these restaurants any time from noon till 6 
or 7 p.m. From that hour till twelve supper is served, 
and coffee, tea, chocolate, eggs, chops, and steaks are to 
be had at any hour of the night. 

The visitor to these restaurants calls for any dish he 
pleases, — roast or boiled meats, or chops. He is 
charged at the moderate rate of sixpence each plate, 
potatoes, boiled or mashed, and bread and butter, being 
added without extra charge. For any extra vegetable 
he pays an extra sixpence. Poultry varies from one to 
two and three shillings a plate. Fish is generally six- 
pence per plate, and pastry the same price, as are also 
tea, coffee, and chocolate. 

By this it will be seen that a very fair dinner may 
be obtained for the small sum of one shilling by a poor 
man. Ices are one shilling each, and fruit is some- 
times dear, because of its scarcity. 

The Californian wines are already in demand in the 
markets of the Eastern States. Whether they are to 



64 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

be had pure in Europe I do not know. California port 
is a sweet, not a spirituous wine. Sherry and Madeira 
are made at Los Angelos, a seaport town in the 
southern region of California, the country around which 
abounds with extensive vineyards. Champagne and 
hock are produced in Sonoma valley, north of the city 
of San Francisco. It is the opinion of those whose 
judgment on the matter is correct, that California is 
likely to become one of the most important wine-pro- 
ducing countries in the world, in addition to her other 
splendid advantages of mineral and vegetable wealth. 

Strangers may possibly expect, as some have foolishly 
done, in consequence of the nattering reports afloat 
concerning the fineness of the vineyards, to find the 
grapes produced as large and fine as hothouse grapes 
in England. Those who expect it are disappointed. 
Wine is not made from such grapes, but of the size 
that is grown on walls in England. Quantities of the 
fruit are grown very slightly exceeding in flavour or 
size those grown in the open air in the south of 
England, in gentlemen's gardens or on cottage walls. 
A few vineyards produce much finer, rivalling hot- 
house grapes for size, while they undeniably excel 
them in flavour. Peaches grow in California as 
apples do in England, being standard trees. All along 
the banks of the Sacramento river, as you approach 
the city of that name from the direction of San Fran- 
cisco, peach orchards are to be seen. The branches of 
the fine trees composing them are borne down by 
the enormous weight of the crop ; and yet, whether it 
be that their very luxuriance engenders a rankness of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 65 

flavour, which extreme cultivation removes, or whether 
it is fancy, there are no peaches in California so deli- 
cious and delicate in flavour as those I have eaten 
grown upon garden walls in England. Pears of 
extreme size and delicious flavour are grown every- 
where. Bananas and sugar-cane are brought there 
from Panama, as are also pine-apples and cocoa-nuts. 
Lemons are usually very scarce, while oranges are 
plentiful in the season. 

Blackberries, not surpassing those which grow wild 
in England, are carefully cultivated there, and find a 
ready sale at eighteenpence per pound. Cranberries, 
a favourite fruit of the Americans, are used for tarts 
and sauces. That excellent and wholesome vegetable, 
the tomato, which it is to be wished was emploved in 
England for something more than sauces, is very 
deservedly a favourite with Americans. I believe there 
is no difficulty in growing it in England. Few who 
have not so eaten it would believe what an addition it 
is to roast beef or a good steak. Although I have 
never tried it, I can readily believe Mrs. Mudie's 
account of the many excellent qualities of the despised 
dandelion root, which she gives in her amusing work, 
" Roughing it in the Bush." I hope, too, I may be 
excused if I venture to suggest to my lady readers the 
best mode of preparing a delicacy for their tables in 
the shape of tomatoes as a vegetable to be served in 
vegetable dishes. Boiling water should first be poured 
over them, in which they should be left for two or 
three minutes. This enables the cook to take off the 
outer skin without difficulty, always supposing that 



66 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

thoroughly ripe tomatoes are employed. They must 
then be sliced into a stewpan, and left to simmer 
a while in their own juice. Afterwards salt and 
pepper should be judiciously added, a piece of butter 
the size of a large walnut, and a few bread crumbs are 
to be lightly grated in. No water is required, the 
tomato possessing a superabundance of liquid. The 
longer they are boiled gently the nicer they are, so 
as that they are not suffered to burn or become too 
dry. I remember my first introduction to the tomato 
beyond its use as a sauce was one day in the garden 
of an intimate friend, who, plucking one for the pur- 
pose of sucking the juice, which has an acid taste, and 
of which many people are very fond, courteously 
handed me one. Applying it to my lips, I quickly 
flung it away, disgusted with what appeared to me its 
sickly flavour ; and yet I am now not only exceedingly 
partial to it when cooked, but consider it very palatable 
cut in thin slices and served raw, as cucumber is 
usually served, with pepper, salt, and vinegar. 

The public- school system of America, or rather its 
working in San Francisco, attracted my attention one 
day by accident. Criticism, as far as it may regard the 
efforts made by the Government of America in the 
admirable provision for the free education of the young, 
would in me be something more than presumption. I 
believe the excellence of the public- school system is 
unchallenged and unquestioned. Every opportunity 
is afforded for the acquisition of a liberal education, 
at no heavier expense to the parents in San Francisco 
than the payment of a tax of about three shillings 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 67 

a year for every child in a family. This tax very 
properly must be paid by them, whether their children 
attend public or private schools, or no schools at all. 
Without presuming to criticise, I may be permitted, as 
one who has reflected considerably upon the subject, to 
state what appeared to me the only evil consequent upon 
the attendance of children at the public schools, as 
arranged in San Francisco. I am aware that much 
has been said to the same effect before, and that it has 
received an indignant denial from many of the daily 
papers, that weakly, it appears to me, published refu- 
tations of the assertions made from the pens of children 
attending the schools. Of course it was to be expected 
that the children would be enthusiastic, as youth 
usually is, in defence of that to which it is attached. 
"Whatever foundation the gentlemen of the press had 
for their indignation I do not know, but I am very 
sure they could not have lived for so long a time as I 
did immediately facing one of the chief public schools 
of San Francisco, and have been ignorant of the evils 
to which T allude, resulting from the attendance of 
male and female pupils at the same schools, precocious 
as youth is admitted to be in California. I am aware 
that I may be told, " To the pure all things are pure." 
To this I agree so entirely that I would at any risk 
keep the children of a nation pure. Had I not wit- 
nessed the evil, I should never have imagined it to 
exist to the extent it does. I should be very sorry to 
publish all the proofs of it which have come to my 
knowledge. They would go far to reflect disgrace on 
the noble American school system. INo one more 



68 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

sincerely admires it than I do — no one more intensely 
values education. Yet sooner than expose a daughter 
of mine to the influences of the evil I have witnessed 
in conjunction with it, I would condemn her to 
ignorance for ever. I have spoken thus earnestly 
because I feel too much attention cannot be given to 
the subject, and because the evil is one which admits 
of so simple a remedy, that I am in hopes American 
legislators will award to it the consideration it merits. 
That distinct play-grounds and class-rooms in the same 
building are not separation sufficient, time and the 
anguish of many a parent has proved. There were 
many handsome school buildings in various parts of 
the city. Why not divide them and appropriate half 
the entire buildings to each sex, instead of half of each 
building ? 

The public schools are well built, well ventilated, 
and supplied with, every comfort, as well as every aid 
to. study the pupils can require. Too much praise 
cannot be awarded the efficient and excellent corps 
of school teachers employed, who are no less, in most 
cases, a credit to the community for talent than they 
are for energy in the discharge of their duty. I trust 
that I may be pardoned for speaking so strongly upon 
what I conceive to be the one grand evil of the system. 
My doing so will, I trust, be generously imputed to its 
true cause, my sincere desire to see the solitary blot 
on the perfection of the system removed. It is a 
stigma upon England, which every passing year 
increases, that the oldest of her colonies now indepen- 
dent of her should so immeasurably surpass her in the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 69 

provision it makes for the free education of the young. 
Let us hope that British statesmen will be aroused to 
the necessity of exertion in this respect, and that when 
the object is effected, their tardiness will be redeemed 
by the perfection of their arrangement, not only for 
the education, but for the preservation, as far as may 
be, of the innocence of the childhood of the nation. 
America has not to contend with the selfishness and arro- 
gance of an Established Church, which seeks to engross 
and dictate everything on the question. I shall say no 
more here upon the subject, most interesting as it is. 

Soon after my arrival in San Francisco I was 
aroused from sleep by the clang of a horribly-toned 
bell, the vibration of which thrilled through me with 
a sensation of indefinable horror. Opening my eyes, I 
perceived a bright glare of red light full upon the 
window. I started up with the idea that the next 
building, if not the hotel itself, was on fire. It proved 
to be one of the contiguous alleys inhabited by 
Chinese. The wood of which it was composed, rotten 
with age, blazed up so brilliantly that it gave the 
impression of a much more serious conflagration than 
it proved to be. Hardly had the town-hall bell 
clanged forth the number of the ward, or dis- 
trict, when Avith much noise of shouting and hurrah- 
ing, and urging each other on, the different fire 
companies appeared upon the scene. Their united 
efforts rapidly subdued the flames. The Fire Brigade 
of San Francisco, totally unlike any in England, is 
composed of young men who volunteer their services 
without the smallest remuneration. They belong to 



■FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



different companies, having engine-houses in various 
parts of the city. Each company has its rules. 
Unitedly, I believe, they elect the chief of the whole 
force for a certain term. The fire-engines are mostly 
drawn by hand, by means of a long rope, seized as the 
engine is dragged swiftly along by the accession of 
every fresh member of the company who happens to 
meet it. The engines are handsome, heavily orna- 
mented with brass and steel brilliantly polished. One 
or two are worked by steam, the rest by hand : a few 
are drawn by horses. After every fire the roll is 
called at the engine-house of each company, and every 
member not replying is fined two shillings. This 
occurs but seldom, for being chiefly young men it is a 
matter of rivalry with them to be active. I suppose 
they find the excitement pleasing. On procession 
days, for which America is famous, such as those of 
Independence or election, the fire companies form a 
very effective feature. The engines, polished to the 
utmost extreme of brilliancy, are decorated .with flags 
and wreathed with flowers. The red shirts of some 
companies, and the buff leather and brass helmets of 
others, lend a brightness to the otherwise sombre cloth- 
ing of the citizens. These companies receive frequent 
benefits at the theatres, and give public balls. It is not 
uncommon, by way of lending eclat, for some lady to be 
an honorary member of one of these companies. One 
"fast" young lady of San Francisco glories in " running 
with No. 5," although that number cut in steel of a 
large size, worn as a breast-pin or brooch, is the only 
way in which she runs with it. The same young lady, 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 71 

the step-daughter of an honourable medical gentleman 
of the city, is guilty of setting a " fast " example 
in dress and brusque manners to the young ladies of 
the place. Her fortune, I understand, is mediocre, not 
exceeding eight or nine thousand pounds. This lady 
and her mother are constantly seen at the Tuileries on 
their frequent tours in Europe. 

There is little of the intercourse of polished society 
found in San Francisco. There are but few private 
fortunes comparatively which can afford the expense of 
balls or parties at home. Brother Jonathan is very 
exacting, and if you profess to give a party at all, 
nothing short of the most recherche style possible will 
give him satisfaction. Hence, while hospitality is 
genuine, it is exhibited chiefly in " spending the day," 
or a couple of parties dining by chance or request at a 
friend's house. IN one of those impromptu carpet dances 
and lively little evening parties, or unpretending 
musical evenings, which render the intercourse of the 
simple gentry in London society so pleasing. Public 
balls are all the rage, and as " Jack is as good as his 
master/' it is a common occurrence for a lady to find 
herself dancing with her lately-discharged servant. 
" Biddy vis-a-vis in the same set!" In spite of the 
laws of equality, however, human nature more instinc- 
tively seeks amusement in the society of its equals in 
mental calibre. Very few superior-minded people 
attend the public balls now. If they are not wealthy 
enough to give balls themselves, they rather eschew 
pleasure than attend the public ones. This may 
account for the excessive patronage bestowed by 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



amusement-seekers on the theatre. There are four or 
five good theatres in San Francisco, three of which 
present superior attractions. The Metropolitan is 
roomy, and*is possibly the most fashionable house. It 
was there that operas used to be represented. Maguire's 
Opera House is the seat of both comedy and tragedy. 
Lately, however, Maguire erected the " Academy of 
Music " for operatic purposes. This is decidedly the 
handsomest of the San Francisco theatres. It is lofty 
and extremely well ventilated ; there are four entrances 
to the dress circle, which is but a yard or two from the 
street, and on a level with it, thus presenting the 
easiest access to any theatre I ever visited. The pit, 
called in the "Academy of Music" the "family 
circle," is entered from the dress circle by the descent 
of only a couple of steps. It slopes down gradually 
towards the orchestra. The entrance doors are arched 
in the Gothic style, and, with the walls of the theatre, 
are painted white, " picked out " in relief with gold. 
The doors themselves, opening in the middle, are 
covered with scarlet baize. The seats of the dress- 
circle are a succession of long benches, with backs and 
seats covered with scarlet velvet. The pit is fitted up 
in the same manner. The four stage boxes (the only 
boxes in San Francisco theatres) are draped with 
scarlet brocatello, and richly decorated with fluted 
columns in white and gold. The drop-curtain is com- 
posed of scarlet broadcloth. There are two galleries 
— the second perched up rather too high. A hand- 
some glass chandelier completes the decoration of this 
elegant little temple of lyric art. San Franciscans 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 73 

have contrived from time to time to monopolise a con- 
siderable proportion of the dramatic and operatic talent 
of the present day. Catherine Hayes, Anderson, Jean 
Davenport, Joey Grongenheim, Charles Dillon, Caroline 
Kirchings, the great violinist Paul Julien, Adah Isaacs 
Menken and Emily Jordan, Mr. and Mrs. Charles 
Kean, and Matilda Heron, have all trod the stage there 
as " stars ; " while the stock actors who are nearly 
fixtures in the city are, in many cases, of unusual 
ability. San Francisco boasts of one, if not two, of 
the finest melodramatic actresses of the day — Julie 
Dean Hayne and Annette Ince, whose refined concep- 
tions of character and power of depicting the nobler 
emotions of the heart are rarely equalled. The latter 
lady especially, in addition to a highly- cultivated mind 
and dignified bearing, possesses an unusually rich-toned 
and impressive voice. Should she ever appear on the 
London boards, I am satisfied the verdict of the public 
will confirm my assertions. 

Frank Mayo, a young artist, as yet only of Califor- 
nian celebrity, is one of whom much is expected in the 
way of future distinction as a tragedian. He played 
Henry VIII. to Charles Kean's Wolsey while the 
latter was in San Francisco. Mr. Mayo was said at that 
time to intend visiting England. C. K. Thorne, jun., is 
said to be the best light comedian of the American stage. 
He is the brother of Mrs. Jordan, whose husband per- 
formed with Miss Bateman at the Adelphi. He has 
also been a fixture in California for some years. The 
high salaries offered may account for the fact, but it 
must be patent to all that San Franciscans are not so 



.FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



barren of dramatic intellect as their geographical posi- 
tion of " outside barbarians " may have suggested to the 
unreflecting of Europe, who forget the power gold 
possesses as an attraction, even to the ends of the earth. 

An earthquake happened soon after my arrival. 
They are common in San Francisco, though no con- 
siderable damage has yet resulted from them. The 
sensation produced by them upon the human frame is 
that of slight sea-sickness. When one occurred I was 
sleeping at the time in the house of a friend. The 
shock was so severe that instinctively we, one and all, 
rushed into the street perfectly regardless of our attire. 
It is astonishing what extreme fright will effect in the 
way of indifference in this respect. By the time we 
reached the street the shock had, of course, subsided, 
and the expression of the majority of our party being 
most emphatically one of surpassing " sheepishness," 
we crept back considerably mortified. I took good 
care to remain the last below, and was highly delighted 
next morning to find that nobody seemed to be aware I 
had shared in the general panic. The earth has been 
known to crack in the environs of the city at such times, 
but never to any extent. Should a severe earthquake 
ever occur, that large portion of the city which is built 
upon the " water lots " would suffer severely. 

With all the admirable natural provision by means 
of hills and bays for good sewerage, San Francisco is 
extremely defective in this respect, excepting in the 
main streets. These main streets are laid with rail 
tracks for the horse-cars, which have become quite an 
institution of the place. To parties that live anywhere 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 75 



on level ground they are a great convenience. The 
inhabitants of the hilly districts, of course, cannot 
benefit by them so much. They are annoying to drivers 
of other vehicles, whose wheels are apt to catch upon 
them. In the narrower streets they are a real nuisance. 

There is a railway lately opened to San Jose, on the 
southern shore of the bay, about sixty or seventy miles 
from San Francisco. The country through which it 
passes is fertile and pretty. At a station on this line, 
about twenty-five miles from San Francisco, passengers 
can alight near San Mateo for the " Crystal Springs," 
as a pretty little glen with a sparkling stream flowing 
through it is appropriately named. 

There is a good inn, where visitors can procure ex- 
cellent treatment. At the time I first visited it, before 
the railway was open, we were served with fish, flesh, 
and fowl, new-laid eggs, excellent ham, good fruit pies, 
and delicious strawberries and cream. Not a bad bill 
of fare for a lonely inn in a new and almost wild 
country. The hills around were covered with the tiny 
wild strawberry, and alive with ground squirrels. Here 
I first observed the scarlet columbine growing wild. 
The gardens attached to the inn are large and prettily 
laid out ; but the glen, and the winding stream o'er- 
arched in places by the feathery foliage of the wood- 
land, possessed greater attractions for me. It is a lovely 
spot — a place in which one could almost forget the 
cares of this troublesome world, and taste of that per- 
fect rest and content so uniformly denied us in that 
restless search after the happiness we are destined 
never to obtain. 



76 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

We passed on our return by the " race-course " of 
San Francisco, which is three or four miles from the 
city, and ordinary enough in its appearance. That it 
possesses great attractions for some members of the 
community is apparent at the racing season, although 
at no time, as may be supposed, does it emulate 
the glories of Ascot or Doncaster. Racing is so 
little to my taste — though I confess to an almost pas- 
sionate attachment for that noble animal, the horse — 
that I am utterly unable to give the most meagre tech- 
nical account of the sports carried on there. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



CHAPTER V. 

START FOR THE MAMMOTH PINE GROVE CALAVERAS COUNTY CITY OF 

SACRAMENTO — SOUTHERN MINING REGION JONES CITY LUNCHEON 

AL FRESCO — WATER-MELONS — A SENTIMENTAL PONY — MINING TOWN OF 

" MURPHY'S 5 ' — CLEANLY APPEARANCE OF THE WORKING CLASSES 

" PLACER" DIGGINGS — DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA — PROCESS 
OF WASHING THE PRECIOUS METAL — PRESENT DEPRECIATION OF THE 

SOUTHERN MINES ARRIVAL AT THE BIG-TREE GROVE — GIGANTIC 

DIMENSIONS OF THE CELEBRATED TREES — THEIR LONGEVITY — SOLEMN 

. APPEARANCE OF THE GROVE — RATTLESNAKE BEAUTIFUL LICHENS 

RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

My friends persuaded me to make one of a party, not 
long after my arrival, to visit the celebrated Big- 
Tree Grove of Calaveras county, California. Always 
delighted at a trip amid country scenery, and especially 
so at the idea of intruding on dame Nature in one of her 
wildest and grandest moods, I was very easily persuaded. 

My dear friend, Mrs. C , and her sweet niece, 

her husband, two other gentlemen, and myself, formed 
the party. TV r e started at 4 p.m. one lovely afternoon 
in May, in one of the fine river boats which ply daily 
between San Francisco and Sacramento, for the latter 
place, arriving there at about 1 a.m. The fare to 
Sacramento is five dollars, about one guinea. Pas- 
sengers usually secure a state-room on the up trip, for 
which three dollars extra are charged. In consequence 
of this arrangement many people prefer to remain on 
board all night, from arriving late in Sacramento, 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



rather than dress and drive to an hotel. "We adopted 
this plan, going ashore at 6 a.m. The city of Sacra- 
mento, mentioned before, is flat ; the buildings, even in 
the main streets, are chiefly frame structures. There 
are some very good hotels. The St. George is most 
patronised by fashionables. The mania for good hotel 
accommodation throughout America is surprising. The 
most miserable little town of twenty or thirty shanties, 
which it is often a compliment to term " cottages," con- 
trives to keep up a good hotel for the benefit of the 
travelling public. 

The district of the Southern mines — through which 
we passed, choosing as we did a somewhat circuitous 
route for the purpose of more especially observing the 
existing degree of prosperity, and the mode of working 
the mines — is a country by no means remarkable for 
natural beauty. Still it presents a more fertile appear- 
ance than we had anticipated. Understanding that 
few modes of travelling, or styles of dress we might 
choose to adopt after quitting Sacramento, would attract 
unusual attention or appear outre in the mining towns, 
we left our luggage to be forwarded to the " Big- Tree 
Hotel" per stage, and provided ourselves with good 
stout ponies, and broad-brimmed and not unpicturesque 
straw hats. These, with the addition of brown-holland 
riding- skirts and jackets on the part of the ladies, and 
holland blouses, or " dusters," on the part of the 
gentlemen, completed the outfit of as merry and happy 
a party as, I venture to assert, ever travelled those 
Southern mining districts. 

Determined to be pleased and amused with whatever 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



we might see, from a pan of gold-dust to a wayside 
weed — resolved to let no annoyance have power to 
cause us anything but diversion — ready to put up with 
any inconvenience without grumbling, and to expect 
no comfort beyond the barest necessaries of existence, 
how could we do otherwise than enjoy ourselves? I will 
venture to promise the same degree of pleasure to all 
those who undertake to follow our example. At the 
pretty little town yclept lone City we thoroughly 
enjoyed ourselves. Not intending to remain the 
night (it was but noon when we arrived), the ladies 
of our party threw themselves down in the shade of 
a pretty grove a little distance beyond the town, and 
deputed the gentlemen to seek out for refreshments 
in the shape of anything they might be fortunate 
enough to procure, charging them, beyond all else, to 
bring a supply of that most refreshing of fruits, the 
water-melon. Time passed ; a quarter, then half, then 
three-quarters of an hour, till we began to confess we 
had not included this portion of the entertainment in 
our mental programme. At the moment one of the 
missing cavaliers made his appearance, with sundry 
mysterious packages, which he flung hastily and 
triumphantly down, and dismounting, motioned us to 
rise and look in the direction of the town. So doinar, 
we perceived the other two gentlemen ; one occupied, 
as it seemed, in vain but frantic endeavours to keep 
possession of something which as determinedly eluded 
his grasp. It was poor Gr , overladen with water- 
melons, any one of which would have sufficed for 
the whole party. His unlucky resolve of bringing 



80 -FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

them all triumphantly to " camp," as he termed it, had 
occasioned the delay which surprised us. Tired and 
dusty he looked as he dismounted, the very essence of 
discomfort, but nobly holding to his resolve not to 
grumble, as he had previously held on to the load of 
fruit : he was ere long the merriest of the party. How 
he relished the water-melons need not be told! In 
spite of his restored complacence, he did appear to take 
a kind of underhanded savage gratification in disposing 
of them. Our ponies seemed to enjoy their noontide 
rest and " feed " fully as much as we did. For my 
own part, I can conscientiously affirm that the most 
recherche petit souper or dejeuner d la fourchette I ever 
sat down to, sank into insignificance beside those same 
delicious water-melons. 

I was not long in discovering, too, that I had a 
treasure of a pony in the selection made for me — 
gentle as a lamb, and yet with a surprising dash of 
pony spirit. " Fly " they called him, and " fly " he 
certainly did, when necessity or his mistress com- 
manded. He was a piebald, strong-limbed, swift- 
footed, trustworthy, and obedient Yankee quadruped. 
How seldom through life do we find so many virtues 
combined in our human friends as in the poor brutes, 
who are so quick to recognise the hand that benefits 
them — so ready to forgive the arm that wounds 
them ! Many a time was I envied the possession of 
poor Fly : when a distant hill- view was to be obtained, 
he invariably carried his owner first to the summit in 
triumph. How many a passing glimpse of scenes of 
beauty I owe to his swift-footedness, snatched while 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 81 

others were plodding more methodically upon the 
beaten track. Poor Fly ! I think there must have 
been something of sentimentality in his nature, or he 
would have preferred to plod along too, rather than 
appear so to exult in the races after the "beautiful" 
which we took together. 

There exists a surprising " family likeness " among 
the mining towns of California. It is but to read a 
description of one, and to make the acquaintance of all. 
The town of " Murphy's," as it is quaintly termed, is 
one I select to convey my impressions upon the subject. 
There is, of course, a main street, for every town has 
one. In this main street, at the period of our passing 
it, were located three principal buildings — the inevit- 
able " grocery " store, where everything eatable and 
drinkable may be procured, excepting butcher's meat 
and fresh vegetables. In the possession of the two 
latter articles, or rather in the sale of them, the second 
building alluded to rejoiced; while the third was, in 
the ubiquity of Western travel, the unfailing " hotel," 
the structure there dignified by the appellation at that 
time answering to the English understanding of a 
quiet country inn ; albeit the " hotel " would still 
suffer in comparison, being by no means of so sub- 
stantial a make nor so portly a presence as " mine 
inn " suggests. It was composed of mere planks put 
together with tenpenny nails, and presented, on the 
whole, so ephemeral an appearance, that I could not 
help asking, as one would of a plant in a London 
parterre, " Will it stand the winter ? " 

Flowers, particularly the hardy and showy scarlet 



82 • FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

geraniums and others, were not wanting in the gardens 
of the simple houses composing the " settlement/' at 
that time not more than a score or two in number, 
straggling about in various directions, and built in the 
same slight manner. Considering that sleet, rain, but 
rarely snow, are common in the winter, it is wonderful 
that rheumatism is not even more general throughout 
those districts, since it is by no means uncommon in Cali- 
fornia to hear of children twelve or thirteen years 
old receiving medical treatment for it. The contrast 
between the clothing of the denizens of these cottages, 
at least in summer, and the meagre appearance of the 
houses they inhabit, was amusing. " Ladies " (every 
woman in America is a "lady ") stand at the doors of 
one and two-roomed cottages, decked out in all the 
hues of the rainbow, as embodied in " lawn," or, as 
we English say, " muslin " dresses. It is true that 
American ladies, even among the elite, are much more 
fond of wearing bright colours and costly toilettes in 
the streets than either their English sisters or French 
examplars in fashion consider it good taste to do. The 
women in the mining districts " out- Herod Herod " in 
their passion for gay colours. Remarking it, one could 
almost wish for one feature of despotism or some sump- 
tuary law to exist among them, enforcing a picturesque 
peasant costume, which should blend this regard for 
colour into something less grotesque and inharmonious 
than a distorted copy of the prevailing mode in the 
worst taste. 

There is a salient feature in the matter of dress very 
creditable to the wearers, or rather to their wives and 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 83 

laundresses — I allude to the pure whiteness of the 
shirts worn by the men, not only in the mining districts 
of California, but among working men almost every- 
where throughout America. There is a degree of 
cleanliness, superiority, and self-respect apparent in the 
labouring men of that country, whether at work or as 
you meet them returning from labour in the evening, 
which affords a strong contrast to the dirty, unshaven, 
rough, and too often besotted appearance of labourers, 
bricklayers, and others who are seen coming from their 
day's labour at the delightful twilight hour in old 
England. That hour, in itself so suggestive of holiness 
and happiness, is always strangely marred in my view 
by the slovenly appearance of these men, who it would 
seem, by the simple remedy of spending less on beer 
and more on soap, might be better subjects of compari- 
son with the Americans. I sincerely honour the hard- 
working sons of toil, and it is because I do so that I long 
to see them aroused to the possibility of bettering their 
condition. My heart longs to teach them one fact of 
which they appear to be ignorant — that it is quite pos- 
sible for a labouring man to be a man who, because he 
respects himself, is by that in a fair way to win the 
respect of others. There is no excuse for the Euglish 
labourer being less cleanly in his work than the 
American. English wives of such men are proverbially 
greater drudges than the American women ; nor have 
the wives of American working men the provision made 
for their aid and comfort in this respect which the 
English possess in the admirable penny and twopenny 
baths and wash-houses instituted for their accommoda- 



84 ■ FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



tion by the late lamented and truly "good" Prince 
Consort. 

To return to my tour. Proceeding on our way, 
refreshed in body and animated in spirit by our lunch 
at the aforesaid " hotel/' we observed a neat little 
Catholic chapel on the ascent of a hill just beyond the 
town, and the good cure standing at the door of his 
humble dwelling, in earnest conversation with some 
members of his flock. It was a pretty scene, suggestive 
of peace and repose. 

The Southern mines of California are almost wholly 
"placer" or surface diggings. The auriferous earth 
sparkles in many regions under the feet, as if veritable 
gold-dust asked no more labour of the miner than to 
stoop and gather it up. We quickly discovered our 
error in imagining this, those gleaming particles in the 
rich-looking red earth being nothing more than a sub- 
stance called by miner's "isinglass," possibly indicative 
of the near neighbourhood of gold, but certainly of no 
value in itself. Why it is termed " isinglass " is a 
mystery. 

The region of the " placer " diggings reminds one 
of turf-digging at home, the earth being removed 
in layers— -in some places to the depth of a man's 
height or more, in other places not more than a foot 
from the surface. Much of the gold is found in the 
channels of rivers and in mountain streams. These 
channels frequently, though very wide, have in the 
summer months their waters exceedingly shallow, 
occupying but a small central portion of the entire 
bed of the stream. From the pebbly or gravelly borders 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 85 



on either side of the diminished stream a considerable 
quantity of the precious metal is obtained. 

The discovery of the existence of gold in California was 
made in the following manner. It has been stated before 
by others, but a mention of it here appears needful. On 
the banks of the Sacramento river, a little way above the 
site of the present city of that name, there lived in the 
year 1848 a gentleman who, thirty years previously, had 
left his native country, Switzerland, to seek a home in 
the then " Ultima Thule" of emigration. Little could 
the hardy Swiss, in the wildest flights of his imagina- 
tion, have dreamed that his name was destined to be 
immortalised on the page of history by the very pains 
he took to quit that quarter of the globe which teems 
most richly with historical records, to bury himself 
amid the recesses of an almost unknown region. 

Selecting, therefore, a site for the humble dwelling 
which was to be the home of many future days, not far 
from the junction of the Sacramento and American 
rivers, he lived in undisturbed tranquillity for the space 
of twenty-five years — "the world forgetting, by the 
world forgot. " He was esteemed and respected by the 
aboriginal and Mexican population. During the sum- 
mer of the memorable year 1848, having occasion to 
repair his mill-dam, he caused the water to be drawn 
off. The little daughter of one of his workmen was, I 
have been assured, the first to discover the particles of 
gold left in the sediment of the stream. Certain it is 
that the discovery was then made. How rapidly the news 
spread, and how extensive was the exodus which resulted 
from the announcement, has since become a matter of 



86 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

history. In Colonel Sutter, the pioneer discoverer, all 
who sought counsel or encouragement met with sincere 
kindness, assistance, and true friendliness of feeling, 
and his name will be perpetuated with expressions of 
grateful regard as long as California holds a place and 
a name among the records of mankind. 

The face of the entire country was quickly overrun 
with adventurers, who spared no labour to force from 
Nature her hidden treasures. Towns sprang up every- 
where ; lonely wilds, till then untrodden even by the 
foot of the intrepid trapper, shortly resounded with the 
strokes of the pickaxe in the hands of innumerable 
new-comers thirsting after gain ; woodland glens, sacred 
hitherto to the tread of the spotted deer, became the 
haunts of rough men and coarse desperadoes ; while 
forests that had echoed only to the chirp of the wild 
bird, the buzz of insect life, the whistling of the wind, 
or the roaring of the storm amid the pine trees, gave 
back the sound of the axe mercilessly despoiling them 
of their hereditary glories to minister to the necessi- 
ties of their desolaters. 

The process of washing gold has been often described 
by abler pens than mine, so that it seems superfluous 
to repeat it, and yet it may be unknown to some 
readers. It is customary for a certain number of men 
to club together for the purchase of a " claim," as it is 
called, unless they are fortunate enough to obtain a 
good one by "prospecting" each for himself, to adopt 
the local phraseology. Whatever amount is obtained 
from a claim during the day is usually divided at night 
among the partners in it, Life and the security of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



property being so uncertain at the mines, every one is 
anxious that his partners should each undertake the 
guardianship of his own property as speedily as possi- 
ble. In some cases, so convinced are these men of the 
vicinity of eyes which regard them for the purpose of 
robbery subsequently, that they will secrete the gold 
they are collecting under water, in the tin cup they 
employ for washing out the gold-dust, and this some- 
times in the channel of the stream, where it flows 
through their " claim." An idea may be formed of the 
incessant sleepless vigilance that is required in such 
cases, and indeed is absolutely necessary to a miner's 
life, as may be inferred from such incidents. 

In washing, one miner digs up the earth, which his 
partner introduces into the "cradle," a machine so 
named from the rocking motion necessarily imparted to 
it, in order to separate the particles or grains of gold 
from the earth which envelops them, while water is 
conducted through it, and thus washes away the lighter 
substance, leaving the gold behind. Some have not 
perseverance enough to meet success, and so, for want of 
it, getting rid of one claim that is rich and taking 
another, find nothing. 

" What a fool I am ! " I heard a man exclaim. " There 
I was at French Gulch when there were not twenty 
men there. I had the best ' claim ' on the creek, and 
sold it for two hundred dollars, and the men to whom 
I sold it took out seventeen thousand dollars in three 
months. That's just my luck, you see. Then I went 
over to Trinity, and there I did the same thing. I wish 
I had patience to stay long enough in one place to do 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



something, but I can't. But I've got the thing now 
that's going to pay sure. If I had only a couple of 
thousand dollars I could do all I want in six months ; 
or if I had only kept packing a little while longer I 
would have just hit it. As quick as I sold out, up went 
provisions and freights, and the fellow that had my 
train cleared five thousand dollars in two trips. Here 
I am, my money all spent ; but I'll get it back yet. If 
I had only two thousand dollars I could make ten easily. 
Then when I had that claim at Scott's Bar, if I 
had only stuck a little longer I might as well have 
made that eight-pound lump that this old man from 
Oregon got." After other changes the witless man 
who would not stick to any " claim " remained on 
the side of ill-luck. At length he got a partnership in 
a livery stable, ran out his tether there, and undertook 
at last to break in a racehorse which never won. 

I mention this case to show how much depends in 
mining upon perseverance and a stern resolution. 

Leaving Murphy settlement and its mining adven- 
turers, our little party continued its way, observing near 
the road what are called " flumes," or tiny aqueducts 
of wood for conducting water. These run for miles 
together to distant " claims." They were very weakly 
made, and were stilted high overhead in many places. 
It seemed wonderful the summer breeze did not over- 
turn them. To renew or repair them required fresh 
labour when labour was most valuable. 

As we rode toward the western base of the majestic 
Sierra Nevada mountains, the aspect of the country 
presented for many miles a succession of rolling lands 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 89 

to tlie " foot hills," as they are locally termed. Yery, 
very beautiful were those undulating park-like lands, 
studded with noble forest trees in groups. They 
reminded me more forcibly than anything I had before 
seen on the Pacific shores of the groves and glades of 
merry old England. 

As we approached nearer the Sierra Nevada by a 
tolerably good road, the foliage became much more 
diversified, — the pine, balsam, and fir, with evergreen 
shrubs ; and the undergrowth or brush consisted chiefly 
of willow, hazel, raspberry, and poison oak. The pine 
was thickly scattered along the wooded slopes, ad- 
monishing the passenger, by its increasing size, that we 
were rapidly approaching the spot which is called "The 
Big-Tree " or " Mammoth Grove." 

To see the foregoing wonder was the ostensible ob- 
ject of our excursion. What an astounding object it 
was ! What a marvel ! It was worth a hundred 
times over the fatigue of the journey, and the many 
discomforts besides upon the way. It was on a spot 
distant from San Francisco about two hundred and 
twenty-five miles that we halted to observe this marvel 
of vegetation. I need not attempt to describe our 
astonishment. The spot is in a deep valley among the 
mountains, through which flows a stream of the purest 
water ; yet the altitude above the sea is 5,000 feet. 

I will not endeavour to delineate our impressions, for 
I cannot do it, nor how we looked up with a feeling 
almost of awe at the enormous height of the first tree 
among those giant pines as we approached it. 

Near by the object, as usual when any rare sight 



90 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

is to be observed in America, there is, or was then, an 
hotel kept by an individual named Sperry. In ap- 
pearance it looked like a pretty rustic cottage ornee, 
but scarcely furnished in the usual style of such a place 
in England, yet comfortable enough for such persons 
as can put up with something less than that ostentatious 
display seen in similar cottages at home. The expense of 
rusticating there was about three guineas per week and 
upwards. 

The morning of the day after our arrival we sallied 
forth, sketch-book in hand, to make our observations 
of those wonderful giants of the forest. In vain did we 
attempt to delineate them so as to convey an idea of their 
" awful " proportions, for awful they were. "We could 
not comprehend their real size at first. The efforts of 
the pencil, too, were out of all power to convey an 
adequate idea of the grandeur presented to us, as well 
as the wonderful beauty of the Grove scenery around. 
We were at length forced to throw our pencils by, for 
the most accomplished artist must have failed in con- 
veying a correct idea of those surprising natural 
creations. I question in this case, as in some others, 
the possibility of the best artist doing justice to such 
masterpieces of Nature's workmanship, such proofs of 
her surpassing greatness. 

The only mode left to me of embodying the idea of 

such a scene to the reader is to give the bare dimensions 

of those lords of the forest, more particularly of the 

most noted in the local guides.* I must here observe 

* See also a particular account of these gigantic trees in one of the 
Crystal Palace descriptive books, part of the bark of one having been 
transported to England. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



that, gigantic as they appeared to my wondering 
vision, it seemed incredible they could have reached the 
enormous height stated. This indeed may have arisen 
from the want of some known object near, by a com- 
parison with which the dimensions then ascertained 
might be known, just as we fail to imagine the full size 
of a first-rate ship-of-war until we see a frigate or 
merchant vessel of smaller tonnage alongside. 

The " Father of the Forest," so called, since blown 
down, was said to be one hundred and twelve feet in 
circumference, and four hundred and fifty in height. 
This gives a diameter of more than thirty- seven 
feet. The height was thus eighty feet above that of 
St. Paul's Cathedral to the top of the cross, which is but 
three hundred and seventy. The tree " Hercules," 
blown down also, was three hundred and twenty-five feet 
high, and ninety-seven in circumference. The highest 
tree now standing, the " Arbor- Vitse Queen," is three 
hundred and thirty-five feet high. The " Old Maid " 
stoops enough to show she is past matrimonial hope, 
her slender waist measuring sixty feet round. These 
monster trees are scattered over three acres of ground, 
and are reckoned to be ninety in number. They grew 
or grow still amidst other pines, which anywhere 
else would be thought enormous in size. 

The " Mother of the Forest," the largest tree standing 
when we visited the Grove, had been stripped of its 
outer bark to the height of more than a hundred feet. 
The sacrilegious hands which had removed it were, 
however, almost forgiven, on our reflecting that it was 
taken, as the representative of one of the many wonders 



92 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

of the sunset land, to far- distant countries. The bark 
lately stood in the transept of the Crystal Palace, 
Sydenham, England. The aged " Mother of the 
Forest" did not long survive the loss of this hark. 
I heard, before quitting California, that like the venera- 
ble "Father of the Forest," she had at last succumbed 
to the power of the mountain storms. The " Miner's 
Cabin," so called, is a hollow tree three hundred feet 
high, and eighty in circumference, open in front to 
the height of seventeen feet. The " Old Bachelor," an 
amusing type of his fraternity, looks forlorn enough, 
having by far the roughest bark of all the trees, and 
deep rents in various places on its surface. This tree 
is three hundred feet high, and sixty feet in circum- 
ference. " Uncle Tom's Cabin " is a hollow tree 
capable of seating twenty-five persons in a cavity ten 
feet high, with an entrance barely a yard wide. 
The " Bride of the Forest " is a beautiful tree, two 
hundred and eighty feet high, and seventy in circum- 
ference. The "Beauty of the Forest" has a remark- 
ably smooth bark, and is three hundred feet in height, 
and sixty-five in circumference. The greatest curiosities 
of the Grove, perhaps, are the "Siamese Twins." They 
have but one trunk to the height of forty feet, where 
they separate, and then grow two hundred and 
sixty feet higher. One monster tree, fallen down in 
this Grove, was hollow seventy feet from its roots. At 
this height it was sawn across, and so large was the 
hollow that a man on horseback could ride through it. 
The entire tree originally measured four hundred feet 
in length. It appears incredible that trees of such 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



93 



a height could really exist, higher from the ground than 
even the cross on the top of St. Paul's, but those who 
are incredulous on the matter have only to observe the 
bark before spoken of in the Crystal Palace. They 
will then see that it reaches to the top, or very nearly 
to the top, of that lofty transept. I can solemnly 
assure them that, standing before the tree itself, the 
part from which the bark was taken off appeared 
scarcely a third of its entire height, though, in conse- 
quence of the height of the surrounding grove, I should 
not have supposed it three times that elevation. It is 
singular that the average stature of these enormous 
trees yet standing is three hundred feet. The " Father 
of the Forest " was the only one measuring four hun- 
dred feet. Only one or two are as short as two hundred 
and eighty feet. One perfectly sound tree was cut 
down by means of pump-augers, requiring the labour 
of five men for a month to accomplish its destruction. 
The upper side of it, as it lay, was levelled off, and 
a fine bowling alley made on it. The stump which 
remained in the ground, with angles added to it of 
merely sufficient size to render it square, has been 
covered in by a neat wooden pavilion, and will com- 
fortably admit of six sets of cotillons being danced 
upon it at once. 

There is much difference of opinion regarding the 
longevity of these trees. It has been affirmed by those 
claiming to be learned on the subject, that they are 
from three to four thousand years old. A scientific 
man, however, worthy of more reliance than the 
generality of those who pass judgment on the point, 



94 'FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

has stated, after devoting the best part of a day to the 
investigation, that judging by their concentric rings 
or layers of sap, he saw nothing to intimate that they 
had seen more than twelve or fifteen hundred years. 
The idea that these patriarchs of vegetation had 
weathered the storms of every earthly winter since the 
days of David and Solomon was too much for credence. 
That they should have caught the declining rays of 
every setting sun since the reign of Constantine the 
Great is extraordinary enough as an example of 
longevity. These trees are evergreens and coniferous, 
their leaves somewhat resembling those of the cypress. 
The bark is of a pale cinnamon-brown colour, light 
and soft. Nothing can exceed the solemn grandeur of 
that magnificent temple of nature ; its floor the earth, 
covered with the mosaic of a thousand trailing vines 
and delicate blossoms ; its columns the majestic pines, 
its arches their boughs, its tracery their foliage, and its 
roof the glorious vault of heaven above, radiant with 
its own matchless azure. At night the heavens over 
us were gemmed with myriads of diamond stars that here 
and there shot their rays through the foliage, and illu- 
minated the space beneath with their undying radiance. 
How poorly effective, I thought, was the " dim religious 
light " of the venerable and time-honoured cathedral 
to the religious but sombre influence of those pure 
lights of heaven gleaming amid the boughs of that 
" dark pine grove !" There, even at mid-day, the soul 
felt a species of awe when within its dim precincts. I 
hope I am not less susceptible of orthodox religious 
feeling than the average of my species, but I am fain 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 95 

to admit that the finest peroration of the greatest 
preacher I have heard never spoke half so forcibly to 
my soul of the majesty and glory of the Supreme as 
did the almost unearthly silence and grandeur of that 
solemn and gigantic pine forest. 

What pigmies we appeared strolling amid those 
giant memorials of dead years ! Questioning my 
reason one day as to whether there could be any 
worthy ultimate purpose capable of accomplishment 
by creatures so insignificant as we are, my query was 
unconsciously answered by a little dog which had 
greatly attached itself to me. Aroused from my re- 
verie by his short, sharp, distressed bark, as I was 
trying to catch glimpses of the brilliant sky between 
the interlacing pines, I turned my eyes on the ground, 
only to discover immediately before me a huge rattle- 
snake. This reptile is common in California, and was 
not the first of its kind I had seen. Recovering from 
my momentary alarm as the reptile glided swiftly away, 
I caressed my four-footed favourite with a renewed 
hope that there was a chance of my utility in this 
magnificent universe, after all, for some unknown 
object as superior to me as I was to poor " Spot." 
The idea being somewhat comforting in view of my 
lately diminished self-respect, I clung to it with the 
tenacity of a drowning man to a straw, though in the 
eyes of wise logicians it may seem to be to as little 
purpose. 

The soil of this beautiful place is a rich black leafy 
loam, the natural result of the deposit of the autumnal 
foliage for countless ages. A beautiful lichen grows 



96 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

not only on the pines, but on various trees all over the 
Sierra Nevada. It is of a bright yellow colour, and 
hangs like bunches of fine cord, yards and yards in 
length. 

Some one of the Italian poets has made voices issue 
from the trunks of trees. While I was admiring the 
wonders of that lonely region, how often did I wish 
that those venerable trees might for one brief space be 
endowed with voices to whisper to humanity the mys- 
teries of the past ages ! It became a yearning as 
intense as vain. That past, and their relation to it, 
who shall read ? Their futures present a page more 
easily deciphered as the sacrilegious foot of man en- 
croaches more and more upon their ancient domain. 
Alas for the day when perchance science and steam 
shall drag their unveiled beauties before the gaze of 
the millions, who will scarcely deign to spare their 
venerable forms in the march of human progress and 
thirst of lucre ! Let us hope, however, they will con- 
tinue to be regarded with the veneration they merit 
from our own age, and be preserved as noble vestiges 
of nature in the past of California. 

After a week or two spent at the Grove we quitted it 
for San Francisco, via Stockton, a town of considerable 
size on the San Joaquin river, seventy-five miles from 
the Grove, whence a steamboat conveyed us to our 
destination. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 97 



CHAPTER VI. 

MISSION DOLORES — PAST AND PRESENT — CORA AND CASEY — ACTION OF 
THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE — THE WILLOWS — RUSS GARDEN — CLIFF 
HOUSE — SEA-LIONS — LONE MOUNTAIN CEMETERY — CALVARY CEMETERY 

BRODERICK's MONUMENT MONUMENT TO A NAVAL OFFICER TO A 

REGRETTED WIFE POISON OAK AND IVY— THEIR EFFECTS IN- 
CREASING VALUE OF REAL ESTATE WATER MANUFACTURES FUEL 

— COOKING STOVES WASH-BOARDS — CHINESE LAUNDRIES. 

A favourite resort of the San Franciscan cockneys, 
especially on Sundays, I soon discovered was the old 
mission of San Francisco Dolores, or " Mission Dolores/ 5 
as it is commonly termed. This I found was one of the 
various missions, numbering in all twenty- one, esta- 
blished between the years 1769 and 1822 by monks of 
the order of San Francisco. Each of these missions was 
presided over by a father of the order. They were 
instituted, of course, for the purpose of Christianising 
the Indians. The edifices thus erected bear everywhere 
a strong resemblance to each other, being fabricated of 
adobe or mud bricks, and consisting invariably of a 
church or chapel, with habitations for the clergy, 
besides various dwellings for stores and offices. Fre- 
quently there are as many as two thousand Indians 
attached to a mission, while, again, some do not number 
more than five hundred in a congregation. These 
Indians may or may not reside near the mission. In 
some places adobe dwellings are provided for them at a 

H 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



little distance from the church ; in others they live in 
their own primitive fashion of wigwams, or huts of a 
conical form, about twelve yards in circumference and 
from three to four yards high. These wigwams are 
made of sticks stuck in the ground in a circle, tied 
together at the top, and covered with grass, rushes, 
boughs, or even hides, so as effectually to protect the 
inmates from the weather. There used to be a small 
guard or piquet of soldiery attached to these missions 
for the purpose of overawing the Indians, and acting 
occasionally as posts for the Government. 

Nestling among the greenest portion of the hills to 
the south or south-west of San Francisco lies this 
Mission Dolores, with its church before mentioned, 
and encircling graveyard. These are the sole monu- 
ments which speak of man's past in the environs of a 
city so eminently of the present. No other memorial 
links the bay city with departed days. In rambling 
the streets, traversing the cemeteries, and reading the 
inscriptions on the monuments and tombs, the lateness 
of the dates upon all reminds one continually of our 
existence of a day, and we are almost induced to forget 
that yesterday ever existed at all — that yesterday of 
dead years, of which every other part of the world so 
perpetuates the memory, but to the thoughtful mind 
exhibiting much more gloom than gladness. Still, 
looking on the old mission church, and treading the 
labyrinthine walks of its beautiful graveyard, I was 
grateful to it for linking the heart once more to the 
assurance of a past, in which human hearts had lived, 
joyed, suffered, and hallowed those shores, now so 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 99 

completely engrossed by the money-making whirl of 
existing humanity, as to become almost indifferent 
whether there be either a past or a future. The 
graveyard of Mission Dolores presents a quaint con- 
trast to the beauties of the two fashionable cemeteries 
of San Francisco. Flowers planted long ago over 
beloved and regretted ones, by hands which themselves 
are long since dust, grow in unheeded and unchecked 
beauty in close companionship with weeds and grasses. 
Vines and climbing plants, once carefully trained over 
the slumbering forms of parent or of child, spread 
themselves in very wantonness of luxuriance along 
neighbouring tombs, binding together in death with 
their circling embraces the memories of those who 
perchance on earth were as widely parted as death 
from life. The graves of many early French residents 
of San Francisco, buried at this mission before the 
Catholic cemetery of Calvary was opened, were re- 
markable for the vases and garlands of immortelles 
which deck the tombs of their distant Pere la Chaise so 
profusely. The grave of Cora, or Casey, who was 
hung by the Vigilance Committee in the early days of 
San Francisco, was one of the lions of Mission Dolores. 
Cora's story is a tragical one. He attended the theatre 
one evening with a woman of indifferent reputation. 
The next seats to those secured by them were taken by 
a General Richardson and his wife. The latter, little 
imagining what her conduct was to cost her, refused 
to sit next to the woman in question. Words ensued, 
resulting in a challenge and the death of Richardson. 
The Vigilance Committee seized, tried, and condemned 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



Cora to be hung. Prior to his execution lie married 
the woman, since known as the notorious " Belle Cora," 
who had been his companion at the theatre, and be- 
queathed to her all he had to leave. To her credit, it 
should be stated, that she expended large sums in 
fruitless efforts to obtain his acquittal or pardon, and 
failing, left San Francisco a few years after his death, 
carrying with her his remains, which were disinterred 
for the purpose of removal. 

There is a railway between San Francisco and the 
Mission Dolores. Trains run every half-hour to ac- 
commodate passengers, although the distance is less 
than two miles. The great want of San Francisco is a 
public promenade or park. How eagerly its toil-worn 
inhabitants seek fresh air and country scenery is here 
shown by the crammed state of the cars or trains on 
this railway, especially on Sundays. Half a mile from 
the mission is a little glen or hollow, where a few 
willows and shrubs, exulting in the unusual dampness 
of the soil, have had the hardihood to grow to a con- 
siderable size. This leafy hollow was seized upon 
with avidity by some enterprising individuals, laid out 
in a small series of winding walks, embellished by a 
few beds of flowers, diversified by a refreshment saloon, 
a concert platform, and a few swings and hobby-horses 
after the manner of suburban tea-gardens, and finally 
dignified with the cognomen of " The Willows." 
Here on a Sunday may be seen a cosmopolitan crowd 
of pleasure-seekers, among whom the Saxon element un- 
deniably predominates, and if not the most refined, they 
are assuredly the most cheerful of amusement-hunters.. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



There is a more exclusively German Sunday rendez- 
vous, called the " Russ Garden." The Cliff House and 
Ocean House, about seven miles directly west of San 
Francisco, face the sublime Pacific, and are greatly 
resorted to by Sunday excursionists. The Cliff House 
is built, as its name implies, on a cliff facing the rocks 
before alluded to at the entrance to the Golden Gate, 
over which the sea breaks with such extreme fury. One 
of the larger of these rocks is a favourite resort of sea- 
lions, that may be discerned thickly covering its sides 
with their clumsy bodies, and sending their deep hollow 
bayings over the surrounding waters. They are often 
a mark for sportsmen. 

As the excursionist returns to San Francisco from 
the Cliff House along a macadamised road, he sees 
half-way betwixt the ocean and the spires of the many- 
hilled city, upon the highest intervening ridge of land, 
a solitary peak, which rises in the form of a sugar-loaf, 
as if it were an earnest of the neighbouring mountains 
stretching away in a southern direction on the right. 
This peak is aptly and beautifully termed " Lone Moun- 
tain." It gives its name to the Protestant cemetery 
directly opposite, on the other side of the high road 
which winds past its base. Subsequent to the forma- 
tion and naming of the Protestant cemetery, the 
mountain itself has been purchased, with some land 
surrounding it, for a Catholic cemetery ; and the pur- 
chasers have named the latter " Calvary Cemetery," 
the name " Lone Mountain," which should designate 
it, having been previously appropriated by the Pro- 
testants. The Catholics have very suitably crowned 



102 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the apex of Lone Mountain with a large stone cross. 
The conical hill and cross form together a notable land- 
mark for miles around. Standing on this hill with his 
back to the south, the observer sees before him, on the 
northern horizon, the ridge of high mountains on the 
north side of the channel called the " Golden Gate." 
On his left, sloping gradually downwards to the Cliff 
House and beach, the road terminates on the shores of 
the wide- spread majestic Pacific. On his right, distant 
about three miles, rises the hilled city, with her "blocks" 
of buildings, spires, and streets. Still farther beyond 
lies the noble bay, like a huge sheet of silver, bordered 
on the extreme east by the distant hills of Alameda 
county. No more picturesque situation for a last rest- 
ing-place can be imagined than San Francisco possesses 
in its cities of the dead. Far from the busy hum of 
men, away from the turmoil of the far city, with the 
ceaseless murmur of the grand Pacific wave upon the 
distant beach, and the moaning winds ever wailing a 
dirge over the spot, there is a solemnity and sanctity 
about the scene singularly suited to its object. The 
Protestant burial-ground, Lone Mountain Cemetery, is 
laid out with taste, and contains many monuments of 
beauty, besides possessing finer growths of foliage than 
the Catholic graveyard opposite. Some monuments 
struck me as unusually fine, especially that erected by 
national gratitude to Senator Broderick, before men- 
tioned. A square pedestal of massive stone supporting 
a second rather smaller, is intended to bear the statue of 
Broderick, not yet completed. The upper pedestal is 
sculptured in bas-relief with figures representing Cali- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 103 

fornia weeping for her patriot's death. The mechanics 
are also symbolised : Broderick in his early days had 
worked at the anvil. On the four sides of the plinth 
are inscribed the words, " Broderick," " Mechanic," 
" Senator," and I think " Patriot " — if not, I forget 
the last word on the fourth side. It is to be hoped 
the committee that has the matter in charge will not 
fail to record upon it his dying words before quoted, 
prophetic of the troubles in store for his native land 
so soon after his death. On receipt of the news of the 
assassination of President Lincoln, while the San 
Franciscans were draping their houses in mourning, a 
party of ladies and gentlemen went to Lone Mountain 
and- draped Broderick's monument — a fitting act of 
sympathy, as the foe of slavery in San Francisco. 

Enclosed by a circle of flowering shrubs and cypresses, 
inside a tasteful iron railing, is a sculptured column 
representing a broken mast, erected to the memory of 
a gallant officer who perished with his captain and 
vessel between San Francisco and British Columbia. 
The officer in question had succeeded in conveying 
several boat-loads of passengers to the shore in safety, 
and when urged by them not to return again to the 
doomed vessel, he replied in words which are fitly sculp- 
tured on his tomb : " My life is as dear to me as that of 
any man, but it belongs to the passengers and captain 
of that vessel ; and while one man remains on board 
I will not desert her. If I am lost, tell my wife and 
children I died doing my duty." Brave heart, noble 
spirit, gallant gentleman, hail and farewell ! 

One more monument I must notice before taking 



104 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



leave of Lone Mountain. In a triangular enclosure, 
embedded as if in green velvet, surrounded by a thick 
hedge of laurel, and garlanded by roses, is a grave — 
that of the beloved wife of a San Franciscan merchant. 
Every Sunday morning a lady and gentleman may be 
seen driving out to Lone Mountain, and making their 
way to this grave, entering the enclosure by a gate in 
the railing which surrounds the laurel hedge. Here 
they spend an hour or more in trimming the flowering 
plants, and replacing the faded blossoms in the hand- 
some French vases on the grave itself with fresh ones, 
brought from the city for that purpose. These melan- 
choly yet affectionate tributes being paid to the memory 
of the dead, they return together to their distant city 
home. The lady is the sister and the gentleman the 
still sorrowing husband of the lost one, who dying be- 
queathed the care of her little ones, and the consoling 
of her idolised husband, to her little less beloved sister. 
How sincerely she is yet mourned, and how strictly her 
wishes have been carried out ! The sister, I am told, 
truly fills the place of a fond mother to the orphaned 
children. 

Several pretty and simple devices mark the resting- 
places of children. " Our Willie," or " Our Minnie," 
is all that tells the tale of the precious dust below 
— inscriptions more classically eloquent and concise 
than our cemeteries commonly ^exhibit, and more, too, 
after the antique. 

The road from Lone Mountain to San Francisco is, 
as before stated, macadamised and kept in good order. 
It crosses continuous undulating sand-hills, partially 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 105 

covered with. " chapparel," of which poison-oak forms 
a principal shrub. This oak, together with poison-ivy 
and poisonous snakes, form the great detriment to 
country enjoyment all over California. It is impossible 
thoroughly to enjoy a country walk when one dares not 
follow one's natural impulses of scrambling through 
grassy glades, over rocky trails, or amid thick brush- 
wood, in search of moss, lichen, or rare and beautiful 
wild flowers, because at any step one may tread upon 
some venomous reptile, or with every flower one gathers 
risk attracting the poison from the neighbouring oak 
or ivy. Poison-oak is a shrub with leaves strongly 
resembling those of the young oak, exceedingly glossy 
and pretty to look at. It affects some constitutions 
much more rapidly and severely than others. I have 
known persons poisoned by only passing the shrub, 
while others are not affected unless they touch it. I 
have unhesitatingly thrust my hand under its boughs, 
and plucked flowers growing at its root, having a great 
fancy for the scarlet lychnis which is often found there. 
These blossoms I have worn in the band of my dress 
all day, at places where almost every one was suffering 
from the effects of poison- oak, and yet I was never 
affected by it. At one place I well recollect an Irish 
chambermaid declaiming violently against the " mur- 
therous counthry," where she "niver dared go one 
blessed yard from the house without getting poisoned, 
bad luck to the place ! It was only fit for savages, 
and the likes of 'em intirely." Certainly, poor creature, 
she suffered severely. The poison makes itself appa- 
rent in the system in the form of a terrible rash, which 



106 , FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

breaks out either on the face, body, arms, or sometimes on 
all together. The irritation produced by it is torturing. 
The eruption rises considerably from the skin, and fre- 
quently assumes a rough or scaly appearance. The 
part affected swells at the same time, and exhibits a 
state of extreme inflammation. Poison-ivy is much 
dreaded in its effect. I was at a watering-place once 
when a traveller entered who had incautiously lain down 
to sleep near some poison-ivy, and he was indeed a 
piteous object. His face was chiefly affected. It was 
so swelled that his eyes were closed, and he had to be 
led like a blind man, his head appearing nearly twice 
its ordinary size. During a trip of one or two weeks 
into the country some people get poisoned more than 
once. In cases where the poisoning has taken place 
several times, the evil lurks for a long time in the 
system, and is very difficult to eradicate. Yarious 
remedies are employed. Some recommend steam-baths. 
I was assured by an old Californian that the most 
effectual cure was chewing the leaves of the poison- 
oak without swallowing them. Several have told me 
they have been cured by this method. I confess, were 
I ever to suffer from the disease, I should feel a little 
nervous in trying that remedy. 

The land on 'both sides of the road from Lone Moun- 
tain to San Francisco is surveyed and laid out with the 
inevitable features of modern American cities — blocks 
and building lots. These lots are at present more or 
less built over, the city enlarging chiefly in a western 
and southern direction. 

On the old San Jose road cottages and farms extend 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 107 

over hills that only two or three years ago were utterly 
destitute of human occupation. People talk of these 
once remote regions as really "worth something" at 
last, and the holders who formerly managed to use such 
distant fields for hog-ranchos are now, by the increasing 
value of real estate, become men of independent for- 
tunes. Some "lots" sold a few years back at the nomi- 
nal price of two guineas each, on a tract called Bernal 
Heights. These are now worth at least twenty guineas ; 
and those who were ridiculed for speculating in them 
have got the laugh upon their side. San Francisco 
is undeniably a great and growing city, and many large 
fortunes will yet be made by such shrewd investments 
in the improving tracts of land around it. So great are 
the changes in the suburbs effected in a few years, that 
it is necessary to witness in order to believe them. 

Water is supplied to the San Franciscans in pipes 
laid on to their dwellings. It is soft and detergent in 
quality. It costs on an average about eight shillings 
a month. Many .'houses possess large underground 
cisterns capable of holding some thousand gallons. 
These cisterns are filled during the winter season by the 
rain water, and contain sufficient to last the families 
till the next rainy season. Some of these families use 
this rain water for all purposes, and, strange to say, 
the doctors recommend it as very healthy. Many 
prefer to buy their drinking and cooking water of the 
water-carriers, who have large casks on wheels, and 
call twice or thrice a week at the houses of those who 
employ them. One of these casks-full costs a dollar, 
and it requires at least four fillings to last a small family 



108 -FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the month. The water-carriers sometimes contract to 
supply a family at so much a month. The water they 
provide is clean but hard, and of very good quality. 

Although manufactures have not as yet been carried 
on to any great extent, there are good woollen fac- 
tories in California, where the usual fabrics, especially 
blankets, are produced of as fine a quality as any in 
the world. The sugar refinery is a large building, 
where the operation is performed to a very considerable 
extent. The sugar produced is excellent. There are 
also extensive foundries, but here the great complaint 
is the high price of coal suitable for iron- working, 
resulting from the want of good coal-mines in Cali- 
fornia, and the necessity of importing it from great 
distances. English coal sells here at eight pounds per 
ton. Coal and coke, the latter obtained at the gas 
works, are almost as much used by families as wood. 
The latter fuel is obtained either at the wharves direct 
from the lighters, where it is purchased at a small 
reduction in price, or from wood-yards, where it can be 
obtained cut into small pieces ready for immediate use. 
That purchased on the wharves is in four-feet lengths, 
and a cord requires the labour of a man for a day to 
split and cut up. It is worth from two to two and a half 
guineas per cord, and they pay the man ten shillings 
for cutting it. Inspectors are appointed by law to 
see that the wood sold on the wharves is correct in quan- 
tity. The kinds of wood most in use are live oak, 
maple, and pine. 

The American cooking stove is of universal adop- 
tion in the kitchens of California, and a great im- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 109 

provement over the ordinary kitchen grate in London. 
The kitchen accommodation in large houses in the 
latter city, with the perfection of hot plates and ranges, 
may be unrivalled ; but far before the old-fashioned 
kitchen grate of England, among the residents in small 
houses, is the American stove, with its tidy arrangement 
of unsmoked saucepans and bright tea-kettles. True, 
some people, who love a peep at a blazing kitchen 
fire en passant, in wintry weather, may exclaim against 
the black and somewhat dreary look of the shut-up 
cooking stove ; but let the housewife's opinion, who 
has tried both, be asked, and her verdict will inevitably 
be in favour of a cooking apparatus that enables her to 
prepare delicate custards and choice dishes without fear 
of smut or smoke, or marring their flavour. 

All houses newly built, or building, have English 
parlour grates, and marble mantelpieces in the draw- 
ing-rooms, instead of the once universal Franklin 
stove, although the latter undoubtedly warms a room 
much better and more effectually, if it do not present 
so cheerful nor so elegant an appearance. The 
English grate is indisputably healthier, with its open 
chimney, than the close- shut stove. Let whichever 
may be really the best, the stove is falling into dis- 
favour for reception-rooms. Bedrooms in San Fran- 
cisco seldom require a fire ; hence the avoidance in the 
general architecture of their buildings of unsightly 
chimney-pots, which so spoil the beauty of the London 
streets. 

While upon domestic subjects a word must be said in 
favour of an American invention which is as fully worth 



no • FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the attention of English housewives as the sewing- 
machine or perambulator. I allude to the American 
wash-boards. If people were aware how much more 
speedily that weekly horror of small households, the 
washing, is accomplished by their assistance, they 
would not hesitate an hour about their adoption. I 
have recommended them to families where the washing 
invariably required the hard labour of a day and a 
half, and it is now done in five or six hours. They 
are to be bought in London, made of wood, for a shilling 
apiece. Those covered with zinc are superior, but 
difficult to obtain in England. 

There is a vulgar prejudice excited against them at 
first sight, which experience shows to be entirely 
unfounded. It is that linen wears out quicker in con- 
sequence of their use. I can only state it as my 
conviction that it depends entirely on a proper under- 
standing of how to use the board. I found sets of 
linen last quite as long in California as in England ; 
I believe — with all due deference to the chemical excel- 
lencies of the washing powders so freely employed in 
Great Britain — if anything, considerably longer. These 
wash-boards are greatly in use too in the British 
colonies. The secret of their proper use consists in 
comprehending that the clothes are not cleansed so 
much by a hard grinding of the linen singly upon 
the board, as by holding it in thick folds, and con- 
tinually turning it as it is rubbed, and incessantly 
sluicing it through the water. 

I have before alluded to the patronage the Chinese 
in California obtain in matters of the laundry. It is 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



amusing to watch their process of sprinkling and 
ironing clothes, the washing and starching being 
accomplished by them in some mysterious den where 
the vulgar gaze of the public eye can never intrude. 
They iron, however, at tables in their little " cabooses," 
close to the street, where any curious passer-by may 
watch the operation, if he pleases. " John " employs 
an original iron of his own invention. Whether he 
has ever taken out a patent for it I am not in a 
position to determine. This iron is neither more 
nor less than a machine, precisely like a saucepan, 
of five inches diameter. In this saucepan, by some 
mysterious agency, he contrives to make a charcoal 
fire burn, though whence any draught is obtained I 
have puzzled my brains in vain to discover. Armed 
with this saucepan in one hand, and a mouthful of 
clean water from a mug at hand, " John " falls to work. 
Seizing a piece of linen, which has gone through no 
process whatever since it was taken dry from the line 
after starching, he commences by ejecting the water 
from his mouth in various directions over the gar- 
ment, instantly passing his unique iron over it 
wherever he has succeeded in damping it. It does 
not certainly appear the most delicate mode of sprink- 
ling clothes, but it is marvellous how well he manages 
to make them look when done. If I can conscientiously 
recommend the American wash-board to my readers, 
" John's " truly original method of damping clothes 
I must leave entirely to their own discrimination. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER VII. 

CALIFORNIA^ LAW COURTS — COUNSELLOR F. AS REFEREE — PITCHED BATTLE 
BETWEEN COUNSEL — APPEARANCE OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BENCH 

AND BAR — A DIVORCE CASE — BEAUTIFUL OCTOROON A MURDER CASE 

— QUESTION OF CORRUPTION — COLOURED TESTIMONY — DECORATION OF 

THE COURTS — FLOODS OF 1861 — BOATING PARTIES BY MOONLIGHT 

SERENADES TRAGICAL CATASTROPHE — PERILS OF A FAMILY BY WATER 

— THEIR SUBSEQUENT DEATH BY FIRE INCIDENTS OF THE FLOOD 

CHARITABLE ACTIONS OF THE SAN FRANCISCANS — LUDICROUS OCCUR- 
ENCES — INDIAN TRADITIONS. 

A few words may be said upon another race not so 
independent as the Chinamen. I allude to the African 
slaves. That long-oppressed race has at length been 
freed from its sufferings at a fearful cost to the United 
States ; still, if man cultivates a vice and defends it, 
reversing the truth in that defence, he may be certain 
of a reaction sooner or later. Even in this world vice 
does not so generally prosper in practice as in certain 
examples we fancy it may do, though only for a 
time. There are a great many of the negro race 
in California ; but it was a free State long before the 
terrible civil war broke out. The negroes were re- 
markable there for their great industry and steady 
accumulation of property, with no inconsiderable 
degree of ability in their different callings. Never 
having been in the Southern States during the exist- 
ence there of that pest in the sight of humanity, the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. n 

slave system, I can say nothing reliable upon the 
subject of the mode in which slavery worked there. 
On the question that every human being possesses an 
"equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- 
piness," there can be no dispute. Even Mahomet 
made it a fundamental law that all men were born free. 
The abolition of this crime from the fair face of their 
land has cost the Americans dearly. Nations, as well 
as individuals, must sooner or later pay the penalties of 
immorality. 

California at one time was so far tolerant of the 
crime that she permitted a Southern slave- owner to 
come with his cargoes to her shores. I know not 
whether he could buy and sell them there ; I imagine 
not. I had a strong proof, however, in the conduct 
of a female who lived at some distance from San Fran- 
cisco towards her slave, which convinced me that all 
the pictures drawn of the treatment of slaves in the 
South before their enfranchisement were not so greatlv 
overdrawn as it was attempted to make the world 
believe. When a woman, living in a free State, could 
forget what was due to the feelings and opinions of 
those around her so far as to give way to the degrading 
influence of a tyrannical anger, I could easily credit 
what I heard of the South. The negro in question 
was a youth of only eighteen or nineteen years old, 
the provocation slight, and the treatment he received 
for an offence scarcely worthy of notice if committed 
by a free servant, was most cruel. 

My attention was drawn one day to a discourse 
between two gentlemen whom I knew upon the matter 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



of jurisprudence as it was once exercised in the city 
or State, I do not know which. I am inclined to 
think that cases in both were intended. The allusions 
were not to recent events, since things were settled and 
in correct order, but related to the six or seven years 
preceding, when the city was inundated by strangers, 
and order had scarcely been enforced, so sudden was 
the influx of population. It appears to have afforded 
some rich scenes to adorn the annals of jurisprudence. 
There are cases in practice which beat any in the 
volumes of verbiage extant from the North to the South 
Pole. The " Justice " and the " One-Horse Courts " 
— so denominated — would have furnished matter for 
a multitude of the most ludicrous of scenes for 
theatrical laughter. In one of the interior counties 
of the States a scene took place which I will relate. 
It appears that referees in a cause have no resource in 
a case of contempt of their court being committed — 
they can only report to the court that appointed them 
the facts that have occurred. 

Counsellor F had been appointed a referee in 

a very complicated case, and the counsel on either side 
were not remarkable for courtesy towards each other. 
During the examination their conduct was frequently 
such as to require a reprimand from the referee, but 
it failed to effect a cessation of their misconduct. 
Finally, the plaintiffs attorney propounded a question 
to a witness which the defendant's counsel roundly 
asserted was improper, and recriminating and pro- 
voking expressions were freely used on both sides. 
The referee made up his mind he would not again 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 115 

interfere, let what would be the consequence. At 
last, the counsel from words came to blows, " fast and 

furious." F , the referee, remained all the time 

apparently unmindful of the fray. "While the counsel 
were thus settling the affair a la Cribb, one of the 
witnesses rushed in and endeavoured to separate them. 
On this the referee interfered, and pulled away the 
meddling witness by the arm. 

" My good fellow," he said at the same time, in the 
most bland terms, " I have frequently been injured 
by interference with the disputes of others. Take my 
advice, and keep out of this mess." 

The two Latitats fought till they could fight no 
longer, and with bloody noses gave over the contest. 

"'Now, gentlemen," said the referee, "you had 
better wash yourselves ; there is water here." 

The ceremony of ablution being duly performed : — 

"Now shake hands," was the mild command of Mr. 
F , the referee. 

The order was obeyed, and the referee once more 
resumed his seat, and then with much quiet dignity 
in his mien, united with the utmost suavity he could 
put on, he said : — 

" Gentlemen,- as you have settled the point disputed 
to your mutual satisfaction, you will now, I hope, 
proceed with this cause. I shall say no more than that 
if such conduct ever again occurs I shall report it to 
the court above." 

The case proceeded, and it was not long before 
another disjDuted point arose, and once more recourse 
was had to fisticuffs. F parted the combatants 



n6 , FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

and adjourned the case, and he then proceeded to the 
judge to complain of the contempt put upon his pro- 
ceedings, all of which he described to his Honour to 
the very letter. 

" They committed a contempt by fighting, did 
they ? " 

" Yes, your Honour." 

" You separated them, did you ? " 

" The last time they fought, your Honour." 

"Well, I fine them twenty dollars each. As for 
you, sir," turning to the referee frowningly, " you are 
fined two hundred dollars, sir, for your contempt." 

" My contempt ? " 

"Yes, your contempt. You're an officer of this 
court, sir ! I'd have you to know, sir, that when 
any officer of this court interferes to prevent a fight 
between two such rascally lawyers, he is guilty of 
the worst kind of contempt, for he interferes with 
the first rule of practice in this court, sir ! " 

F paid the two hundred dollars, but took care 

never again to officiate as the " one-horse judge " of a 
referee court in that bailiwick. 

Gentlemen who are at a loss how to spend a leisure 
hour often drop into the law courts. The laws are 
made clear to the meanest capacity, and are justly 
administered. There is, it is true, much less of 
absurd and affected solemnity, that etiquette from 
the dark ages, which is still retained about the 
European law courts. Ridiculous wigs of the time of 
Louis XI Y., ermine and velvet, coif and gown, either 
with judge or counsel, are beneath the reason and sim- 



THE GOLDEN GA TE. 117 

plicity of a court of justice. Judge and pleader in 
America are not thus caricatured. The sole distinction 
is the canopy- covered chair, with the elevated seat of 
the judges or judge. The true mark of greatness is 
perfect simplicity. The vulgar are no longer awed by 
that which it is not reasonable should overawe them. 
It is the law itself, the real terror to evil-doers, which 
should effect that, for an obsolete costume will never 
doit. 

A lawsuit which occurred but a year or two before I 
arrived may serve to show, in spite of the love of free 
principles in California, how strong was the antipathy 
of some to the negro race so far as regards yielding 
them the common rights of humanity. The suit was 
brought by a merchant of San Francisco to obtain a 
divorce from his wife on the score of infidelity. The 
lady was a beautiful girl of eighteen or nineteen, with 
a remarkably fair skin, hair and eyes of a bright hazel, 
and a face of the most innocent girlishness. Her 
husband fell in love with her at a boarding-school, 
whither he was conducting his own daughters by a 
former wife. He married her, and took her to live at 
one of the most fashionable boarding-houses, where he 
left her young and inexperienced, exposed to all the 
flatteries which her beauty was sure to attract from 
men who make the art of seduction a science. Refusing 
to accompany her into society himself, he permitted 
her to visit places of amusement attended by an 
employe of his own, who was perhaps but too well 
qualified to enact the part of the spider in the fable of 
the spider and the fly. The lady may or may not have 



' FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



been innocent, but when a man of mature years marries 
a girl young enough to be his daughter, and lovely 
enough to turn men's heads, the least he can do is to 
watch over and protect her from the assaults of the evil- 
minded. 

The wife triumphed — alimony was granted her. 
The husband, greatly exasperated, appealed to another 
court. By this time he had discovered that his wife 
was an octoroon. Now the lady was assuredly neither 
less lovely nor less virtuous than at the first trial, yet 
the whole tide of popular sympathy turned immediately 
against her. The husband obtained a decree pronounc- 
ing the marriage null and void ; not on account of the 
lady's immorality — that was no better proved than it 
had previously been — but a wretched octoroon had no 
legal right to contract the marriage at all ; and yet 
she had suffered a prosecution for immorality ! Honour 
be to President Lincoln still more ; for he it was 
who inaugurated a better state of things, paying the 
price of his own honest heart's blood for his immortal 
defence of "justice for all," even for the victims of 
white felonies committed on the African coast. 

In connection with this subject let me mention 
another case. A negro was a few years ago brutally 
murdered in his own shop in one of the most public 
streets of San Francisco in broad daylight, and before 
witnesses. The murder was committed by a white 
man. The provocation was strong (a charge of theft), 
but the murder was cold-blooded and brutal. The 
trial came on four or five months subsequent to the 
offence. The case commenced, and the counsel for the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 119 

prosecution arose, haying previously subpoenaed his 
witnesses. Not one was forthcoming — not one ! Had 
bribery and corruption done their work ? " Quien 
sabe P " It was unaccountable. They had been sub- 
poenaed — these white men of consideration. The 
coroner who held the inquest, and others, could have 
said much. The court waited two hours in vain. The 
prosecution could only obtain one witness, who hap- 
pened to be a quadroon, a man of sense and intelli- 
gence, able to afford the fullest evidence — but he was 
a quadroon ! The dignity of the white savage, the 
murderer and stealer of men himself, must not be in- 
sulted by testimony from the noblest of white blood, if 
mingled with one drop from the veins of his victim's 
race. Thus justice was mocked again by the infliction 
of some trifling punishment. The counsel for the pro- 
secution with indignation denounced in his closing 
address the villanous corruption of the people ; and in 
allusion to the proud pre-eminence of Britain, inquired 
what it was that placed her so high in the rank of 
nations. " The unswerving justice of her courts," 
said he, "the incorruptible integrity of her judges, 
from whose immutable decrees the peer of the realm 
knows no greater chance of escape than the poorest 
labourer who walks the streets." The legislature sub- 
sequently passed a decree that wherever the testimony 
of white people is available, it shall be preferred to that 
of coloured persons ; but in the event of the failure of 
white evidence, the testimony of coloured people "shall" 
be received. Thanks to the present enlightened ad- 
ministration, freedom is secured to the country at the 



120 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

costly price of blood. The judges of San Francisco 
to-day are men of a very different metal from that 
of the infamous Terry before noticed. There are men 
at present on the bench there who would honour the 
most exalted positions. 

The law courts of San Francisco are decorated 
with extreme richness. JSTo expense is spared. Costly 
Brussels carpets cover the floors, which I am sorry 
truth compels me to admit are obliged to be fre- 
quently renewed on account of the very uncleanly 
habit of spitting, so universally indulged in by 
American gentlemen. Let us hope that time, and a 
sense of how little is needed to complete the polish 
of character for which they, beyond almost all other 
men, are so remarkable, will at length induce them 
to reform their houses and habits in the matter 
of the nauseous spittoon, at present the invariable 
necessity of every dwelling, even of the most splendid 
drawing-rooms of the Upper Ten ! 

About the date of the lawsuits above mentioned, two 
or three years ago, there occurred the terrible floods. 
The rain poured in a deluge, without intermission, for 
ten weeks ! What with the rains in the valleys and 
the snow in the mountains, the entire coast, from the 
Sierra Nevada to within a mile or two of the Pacific 
Ocean, appeared one entire and vast lake, diversified 
here and there by straggling tree-tops and piles of 
drift-wood, with floating relics of once prosperous 
homesteads and thriving farms. Whole towns were 
swept away. Scarcely a village in the entire district 
of the Southern mines remained. The capital city of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



the State, Sacramento, built upon a dead level between 
the Sacramento and American rivers, was repeatedly 
submerged, the water being so deep in the streets that 
all who ventured to remain were driven to the third 
stories of brick dwellings, and were seen issuing from the 
windows in boats. In spite of all the surrounding 
devastation, the mercurial temperament of the people 
was witnessed during that anxious time, in the fact that 
boating and rowing parties Were formed for moonlight 
excursions ; and strains of music were constantly heard 
floating over the waters whenever an hour or two of 
intermission in the rains occurred. They even sent 
invitations to friends in the bay city (San Francisco) 
to visit them for the purpose of participating in these 
enjoyments. Serenades, always a feature of American 
life, were more common at Sacramento than ever. 
Those serenades, however, do not imply the dulcet 
strains of the guitar, the instrument of soft sounds and 
southern climes, with the associations of moonlight, 
deeply dark eyes and love's witchery : the serenades 
of California are far more overpowering to the nerves. 
They are usually the effect of a full brass band, or a 
chorus from a number of powerful throats under your 
window, or your neighbour's — sounding, particularly at 
a little distance, agreeably enough upon the still night 
air, but hardly causing one to dream of -ZEolian harps 
or bowers Elysian. It is expected of the parties sere- 
naded that they acknowledge the compliment by show- 
ing a light in some part of the dwelling. If this be 
done, the serenaders will retire contented. It is more 
usual for the flattered parties to ask them in, and offer 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



them refreshment. However fascinating the combined 
charms of the music and the flattery may be, it is 
not the most delightful of sensations to entertain com- 
pany while you are conscious that half your faculties 
are still in the keeping of Morpheus, and cannot be 
controlled by your uttermost efforts while faintly 
attempting to acknowledge the honour paid you. 

To return to the sadder scenes of the flood. A young 
couple, only a few years settled in California, from the 
Eastern States, had acquired a comfortable farm, or 
rancho. An unmarried sister of the wife followed them 
from the East. The husband died not long after her 
arrival. The young sister, shortly after her brother- 
in-law's death, married a farmer from a distant country. 
The bridegroom, at the occurrence of the flood, had 
just quitted his bride and her widowed sister, and 
returned to his distant rancho, intending to sell it, 
and purchase half of the widow's farm, in order that 
she might have his more immediate assistance in the 
management of her affairs. The flood came, and 
simultaneously a report of the bridegroom's death by 
drowning. The water rose rapidly round the widow's 
house, and the young bride, a girl of great nerve, 
heroically insisted on the widow and her children put- 
ting off in their only boat, with the serving-man to 
row them, while she remained till his return with the 
boat, which, being old and small, would not contain all 
the party. The widow and children reached their 
destination in safety, but so rapid was the rise of the 
waters, that the man returned too late to rescue the 
heroic young bride. On the steamboat bound down to 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 123 

San Francisco a few days after, a mournful group was 
gathered, consisting of the widow and her babes and 
an almost broken-hearted man, the husband of the 
drowned sister, who, himself singularly preserved from 
destruction, had returned, ruined in worldly wealth, to 
find his last treasure swept from him by the ruthless 
element. 

In the city of Sacramento, though few lives were 
lost, some sad scenes occurred. One woman, living in 
a dwelling erected by the hard earnings of herself and 
husband, the husband being absent, was forced to 
retreat with her children, a babe of two, and a boy 
of four years old, to the upper story of her cottage, a 
frame structure. She was finally compelled, by the 
rising waters, to place a trunk upon her bedstead, and 
mounting upon it, to stand with her young ones in her 
arms, frantically shouting for assistance during a period 
which must have seemed interminable, help only arriv- 
ing when the water had reached her feet. They were 
saved, but only to meet a still more horrible fate. They 
went to San Francisco on the ensuing day, and took 
lodgings in a building of considerable size, a third-rate 
boarding and lodging-house. Like all such houses, at 
that time being crowded, they were only able to hire 
what is termed a dark room ; that is, one whose window 
looks upon a corridor or passage. The house was 
covered externally with sheet iron, as a supposed pro- 
tection against fire. During the night of their arrival 
some adjacent mills took fire, and the flames communi- 
cating to the boarding-house, it caught fire from below. 
Its numerous inmates, with few exceptions, escaped. 



124 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

Among those who perished were the unfortunate mother 
and children from Sacramento, who, it is supposed, 
in consequence of occupying an inner room, did not 
become conscious of their danger till escape was im- 
possible. The mother's screams were heard, but the 
building was blazing around her on every side, and 
no possible aid could be afforded. The skulls of the 
hapless victims of the flames were dug from the ruins 
the day after, with some toys of the children by their 
side. 

Many during that flood spent days and nights on 
the roofs of their once happy homes, exhausted with 
cold, wet, and hunger, till rescue came, or they fell into 
the water and were drowned. One mother told me her 
babe had dropped three times into the water from her 
benumbed arms. Another said she had been confined 
the morning before, but where her husband and new- 
born babe then were she had not the remotest idea ! 
Fearful indeed was the misery I witnessed, and the 
devastation occasioned by that three months' deluge. 

The people of San Francisco acted in the noblest 
manner. They opened their largest hall — capable of 
accommodating full two thousand persons — and sup- 
plied it by voluntary donations with bedding, clothing, 
and food in abundance for the sufferers who flocked 
there, besides subscribing 40,000 or 50,000 dollars to 
the Howard Benevolent Association at Sacramento 
for the purpose of distribution. The poor creatures 
were treated by them with the sincerest kindness. 
Leading ladies and gentlemen of the city waited on 
them at table, and every respect was shown them in 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 125 

order that they might feel as little as possible that they 
were recipients of charity. 

There were some incidents that were ludicrous even 
in such a terrible inundation, when numerous lives 
were in jeopardy. Houses built of wood would 
naturally be affected ' more than others. One was 
discovered sailing away to a considerable distance, 
and was then borne back again by the current. A 
gentleman, having property in Sacramento, visited that 
city in order to see whether a particular fence sur- 
rounding some of his land had resisted the flood ; and 
in place of his fence, discovered that his " lot " had 
caught and stopped two other houses, with all the 
latest improvements in construction. Many houses 
were found floating hither and thither, turned over or 
upside down. The whole town seemed like a floating 
caravan sery. 

An hotel, which stood on tolerably high ground, 
was thought to be above the height to which the water 
would ascend ; and dinner was ordered two hours earlier 
than usual in consequence. While the guests of both 
sexes were at table the water entered the house, and so 
rapidly that it rushed a foot deep into the dining-room. 
The ladies were obliged to be carried to the stair- 
case in their chairs. The streets were filled with boats. 
Everybody was hurrying, and no meals were attainable. 
Every house-top and balcony was crowded with men, 
women, and children, many with saddened and anxious 
countenances, as beneath floated away furniture, the 
wreck of houses, the street planking, and lumber wood 
from the timber yards, blocking up the passages for the 



126 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

boats. This too, it must be added, was over a very ex- 
tensive surface, and not that of a town end or a single 
street. Wherever there was a little high land, horses, 
cattle, and people alike crowded. "Whenever practicable, 
the steamers appeared, and they were overloaded. Boats, 
luggage-laden, as well as having men, women, and 
children on board, were seen hurrying away from the 
drowned city. The steamers plied to San Francisco, 
which was the only place considered free from peril in 
the State. One man spent four hours seeking a spot of 
ground dry enough to inter the body of his child. 
Such a scene had never before been witnessed since the 
Americans had visited California. There had been 
traditions of previous floods under the old Spanish rule, 
and allusions made regarding such occurrences, but 
little notice had been taken of them by the Americans. 
It was observed, however, that the missions of the 
monks had all been placed upon high ground, from 
which such misfortunes might be inferred as occasion- 
ally happening. The fact of high mounds being found 
in the vicinity of rivers, evidently of Indian origin, 
seemed to indicate something of the same calamity 
in past times, as they were said to be once the site 
of villages so placed for the protection of the dwellings 
from the rising waters. The extent of this flood 
was thirty miles broad, and three hundred long, 
every elevated spot being an island, on which men 
and animals sought and found a wretched refuge. 
All the dams were destroyed, while the expensive 
" flumes," bridges, and tunnels all suffered, and river 
beds were changed. In one little settlement of twenty 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 127 

houses only two were left standing. The thermometer, 
never before known in San Francisco to stand below 
28°, fell to 15J°. Five millions of dollars would not 
replace the injury, and not two- thirds of the rateable 
property paid taxes that year. Provisions rose enor- 
mously — flour and potatoes to two guineas per hundred 
pounds. 



128 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER VIII. 

START FOR THE GEYSERS — PETALUMA — BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY 

FENCES — HEALDSBURG DELIGHTFUL CLIMATE— OVER THE MOUNTAINS 

ON HORSEBACK BY MOONLIGHT — THE "SURVEYOR'S CAMP " THE 

"HOG'S BACK" — GRANDEUR OF THE MOUNTAIN SCENERY — PLUTO'S 

CANON — THE GEYSER HOTEL OLD LEVEY COTTAGE — THE FALLS — 

THE DEVIL'S CANON THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE — PROSERPINE' S GROTTO 

COMBINATION OF ACIDS THE WITCH'S CALDRON — THE " STEAMBOAT 

EXHAUST PIPE " — OPINION OF SCIENTIFIC MEN — THE INDIAN SPRING — 
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS — A FISHING EXCURSION — MADAME CRINOLINE 

AND THE PINE TREE — A FLIGHT FROM AN IMAGINARY FOE A HIP 

BATH — SKETCHING PARTIES — WILD FLOWERS — DISCOVERY OF THE 
GEYSERS — RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

It was one pleasant June morning that, with a few 
friends, I left San Francisco to join a party in a country 
excursion embarking on the bay, for once calm as a 
millpond. Our enjoyment of its fine scenery was one 
of those few bright spots in our existence never to be for- 
gotten. Our destination was one of the wonders of the 
Golden State — I mean natural wonders — the far-famed 
Geysers, — perhaps the future watering-place of the 
Western World. We arrived at the pretty little town 
of Petaluma, snugly nestling among green hills. There 
we waited a short time at the hotel, while the convey- 
ance was getting ready to take us to Healdsburg, 
thirty-five miles further. We started off neck and 
neck with the stage for the same place. Unfortu- 
nately the clouds of dust from the wheels obstructed the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 129 

view of the beautiful landscape on all sides, deterior- 
ating very considerably our enjoyment. In conse- 
quence, it became a question of speed between the 
vehicles, and some excitement ensued. Finally, the 
light weights carried the day, and we entered Healds- 
burg at 7 p.m., an hour before the stage coach. 
The vehicle we used was an American buggy, with 
four wheels and two or three seats, those in front having 
merely a low rail to support the back. There is a kind 
of canopy over all, including even the driver's seat. All 
the seats face the horses. Narrow side and back blinds 
of black waterproof can be raised or lowered at pleasure 
to exclude rain, sun, or dust. The buggy is more built 
for " cosiness" than any other comfort ; but the backs of 
the seats being upright are inconvenient. The "rock- 
away," which resembles an English phaeton, is much 
more comfortable for the lounger. 

The scenery between Petaluma and Healdsburg, and 
indeed throughout the whole of the Sonoma and Russ 
river valleys, is of great natural beauty. The latter 
is the great corn- growing valley of California. The 
appearance of the entire country indicates the energy 
of its inhabitants. In the eyes of a veritable John 
Bull the rough, wooden, three-bar fence of the "lots" 
appears a harsh feature of the landscape, after that 
beautiful peculiarity of his native land, the hawthorn 
hedge. The myriads of wild flowers which gem the 
earth were to us, however, some compensation, for the 
Escholsia is as common there as the buttercup in Eng- 
land. Just before reaching Healdsburg we crossed 
Russ river, at this point rather a deep stream, by 



130 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

means of a ferry boat. The climate of Healdsburg is 
entrancing, balmy, and genial in the highest degree, 
but intensely hot at times in summer. There are a 
good hotel, excellent livery stables, and an " express " 
office for letters — more reliable as well as more expen- 
sive than the post-office — besides Tery good " stores " 
(shops) in the little town. 

Anxious to be on our way as quickly as possible, 
horses and a guide were procured. It was determined 
to make the rest of the trip — twenty-fives miles over a 
mountain road, dangerous for carriages — on horse- 
back, and by moonlight. The first eight miles of the 
road was tolerably level, and wound through a well- 
wooded country, intersected by Russ river, which 
we again forded, the water rising to our horses' shoul- 
ders. We reached the "station/' a long, low, wooden 
cottage, the only dwelling between Healdsburg and 
"the Geysers," distant eight miles from Healdsburg, 
in about an hour. Quitting the " station," we were 
disposed at first to think the difficulties of the moun- 
tain road exaggerated, the " track " over the " foot 
hills " being comparatively easy ; but after leaving the 
" Surveyor's Camp," the last open glade on our path 
(the elevation 2,460 feet), as we ascended to the high 
and continuous ridge, known as the " Hog's Back," on 
a narrow way, bordered on both sides by prickly bushes 
and the shrubs designated " chapparel," we were fain 
to admit that it was sufficiently perilous to our taste. 
This road was only wide enough for one carriage. It 
continued for three miles along the extreme summit of 
a ridge, whose sides on either hand sloped down for 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



eight hundred feet at an angle of more than forty-five 
degrees. It certainly presents an admirable field for 
any number of adventurous Phaetons to lose their lives, 
if those charioteers venture there. The moon was at the 
full, and her calm but fitful light revealed a scene of 
extreme grandeur. Range after range of mountain 
summits were seen, — around, above, below, and on 
every side, nothing but mountains. They appeared by 
night all the wilder and more savage from the dense 
" chapparel " and forest trees on the surrounding- 
ridges, the foliage of which by day imparted a milder 
character, while now their deep shadows increased 
the sublimity of the landscape. 

Our guide was a gentlemanly and intelligent young 
man. He gave us, in reply to our inquiries, not the 
most pleasing information, that grizzly bears inhabited 
the mountains, and added that it would be in no way 
surprising were one to cross our path. This peril we 
escaped. The young man was a native of California, 
descended from one of the old Spanish families that 
were the earliest settlers of the country, and take 
graciously enough its acquisition by the ever- dominant 
Anglo-Saxon. He told us he had never beheld a 
snow-storm, and imagined it must be a most beautiful 
sight. 

Having arrived at an elevation of 3,092 feet, attained 
in a trip of fifty or sixty miles, we commenced the descent 
of a canon, or ravine, which appeared interminable. It 
was well named "Pluto's Canon." At several turns of 
its apparently endless windings, a sound resembling a 
steamboat letting off steam saluted our wondering ears, 



132 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

breaking strangely on the intense stillness of the 
mountain solitude at that dead hour of night. It was 
the indication of our near approach to the wondrous 
Geysers. For ages, no doubt, the ear of the red man 
had been greeted by that unceasing sound — long before 
he drekmed of the advent of the imperious European 
usurpers of his heritage, who have revealed its mys- 
teries to an admiring world. The road for the last few 
steep windings was overarched with trees, whose 
branches obstructed the light of the moon, and did 
their best to persuade us, by darkness and descent, 
that we were actually penetrating into the shades of 
Avernus. The gentle baying of a deep-voiced dog, 
given as if in mild inquiry of who had ventured to 
intrude on his seclusion, reminded us, not of Cerberus, 
but of civilisation, intimating to our modern ears the 
proximity of an abode of man. In a moment more we sud- 
denly came upon the " Geyser Hotel/' as it is somewhat 
pompously termed after the fashion of America, which is 
too apt to dignify inferiority of many kinds with high- 
sounding names, forgetting that simplicity is the noblest 
dignity of republicanism. The Geyser Hotel is quite as 
good a building as could be expected in such a location ; 
but the Shakspearian term "inn" would better suit its 
modest appearance. It is true Shakspearian authority 
likewise says, "What's in a name?" But with infinite 
deference to the great sage and poet, we venture to 
reply — much ; and in this case we think we can justify 
our assertion. The "hotels" at various watering- 
places, or " springs," as they are called in California, 
are usually scenes "where fashion congregates." 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 133 

Ladies going to the Geyser Hotel might naturally 
enough suppose a supply of gauzes, grenadines, and 
laces a positive necessity of the place ; while the simple 
word "inn" would suggest the suitable toilette of the 
Geysers — namely, calico or print dresses for excursions, 
and for the fullest dress needed, a simple muslin. 

The Geyser Hotel, then, is a slight wooden or 
" frame " building of two low stories, built in the 
shape of the letter L. It has verandahs running all 
around on both stories. Each room opens on the 
verandahs, both above and below, there being but one 
door to each of the upper rooms, and no hall, lobby, or 
vestibule whatever. The sleeping-room doors also open 
on the verandah, whence, by a single staircase at the 
angle of the aforesaid letter L, guests descend to the 
verandah below. 

We had barely time to note the appearance of the 
house before " mine host " emerged in propria persona, 
and gave us a friendly greeting, in spite of the lateness 
of the hour and our having disturbed him in his first 
sleep. "We afterwards ascertained that he and his 
wife kept but three house- servants, a chamber-maid and 
two waiters, besides a man cook. In the Old Levey 
Cottage, on the opposite side of the creek — the first 
building put up — a denizen of the Geysers had resided 
for many years, having charge of the hay and the 
little garden which yielded the hotel its scanty supply 
of vegetables. Beef (Spanish), of a very inferior kind, 
excellent mutton, and fowls were killed on the premises. 
All fruit, potatoes, groceries, and other necessaries had 
to be brought from Healdsburg, which made fruit an 



134 'FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

exceedingly rare article on the table, and was the 
only desirable thing which we missed. Ice, that desi- 
deratum of warm climates, was rendered unnecessary 
by the delicious coldness of a spring which issued from 
a rock behind the hotel, and had been arched over for 
several yards to preserve its temperature. The furni- 
ture of the hotel was simple^ and actually refreshing 
from its primitiveness, in contrast with the superb or 
heavy decorations of most Californian hotels. In place 
of mahogany or rosewood, there were plain painted or 
cot bedsteads ; for marble washstands and gilt mirrors, 
were foot- square looking-glasses hung against the wall, 
and a pine table with a wash-basin beneath ; for 
Brussels and Axminster carpets and ten- guinea lace 
curtains, there was a dining-room with a deal table, 
wooden chairs, and a floor innocent of even matting 
or oil-cloth. It was still a delightful spot, take it 
altogether, in which to forget alike the cares, the 
vanities, and the frivolities of society — equally refresh- 
ing from its surpassing natural beauties and its primitive 
simplicity. 

Standing on the inner piazza of the hotel, which we 
have described as shaped like an L, and looking to- 
wards the Geysers opposite, the visitor faced about due 
north. Immediately before the hotel is a level area of 
fifty yards' breadth, whence the ground abruptly de- 
scends to the bed of a rushing stream. This separates 
the hotel from the Geysers. It runs in a course from east 
to west, and is called Pluto's Canon. This stream alone, 
as it comes tumbling along over rocks and boulders, in 
many places completely covered in by trees, is a picture 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 135 

of great beauty. Three miles east of the Geyser Hotel 
are " The Falls," where the stream tumbles over ridges 
of rock between precipitous walls of the same on either 
hand. It abounds with trout. 

A large, deep, white ravine, running north and 
south opposite the hotel, but on the other side of the 
main stream, is called the Devil's Canon. Its smaller 
tribute of waters enters Pluto's Canon at a right angle. 
The eminence to the right of this, apparently covered 
with red and white ashes, is called the " Mountain of 
Fire." Crossing the main creek, or Pluto's Canon, and 
proceeding due north, we entered a narrow glen, the 
commencement of the foregoing Devil's Canon. Shortly 
it narrowed to a rocky pass, roofed by the trunks of two 
large trees long ago fallen across it, whose interstices 
later years have filled with earth and creeping para- 
sitical plants, as well as debris of rocks and stones 
from the banks above. This the Rev. F. C. Ewer, 
of New York, appropriately named "Proserpine's 
Grotto." 

Proceeding still north, the "trail" (for the constant 
changes of the earth's surface prevent a decided foot- 
path) leads closely along, and often across, the stream 
of warm water flowing down the bed of this remark- 
able ravine. Wherever the visitor treads, he finds 
a combination of powerful acids, rocks, and heated 
ashes, apparently a mere crust, under which roaring 
noises are unceasingly heard. Steam arises in volumes 
to a great height- from the boiling springs scattered 
through the canon ; steam bursts from the banks on 
either side above the head, which appear half eaten 



136 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

away, and ready to cave in ; and steam also issues from 
every tiny fissure beneath the feet. 

It is almost impossible to divest the mind of the im- 
pression that in about two minutes more, at the latest, 
the whole will be blown up by some hidden agency. 
We explored the ravine three times, boasting of 
tolerably strong nerves, but reason and judgment had 
hard matter, the last time as well as the first, to 
prevent instinct from making us run away on the 
instant as the only means of safety. The visitor has to 
leap over boiling water, as he proceeds further on, at 
almost every step. There is one large hollow, filled 
with water of a pitchy blackness, termed the Devil's 
or Witch's Caldron, which night and day, year by 
year, boils so furiously that visitors cannot approach 
it for fear of being bespattered. The "Steamboat 
Exhaust-pipe," so called, near the head of the canon, 
keeps up incessantly a terrific noise, and produces the 
sound we heard on approaching the Geyser Hotel on 
the night of our arrival. 

Scientific men assert that there is nothing to indicate 
volcanic action. The whole is the effect of acids. 
Boiling and ice-cold springs emerge from the earth 
side by side. Here a stream of black sulphur, and 
there a jet of pure water ; in one place the two latter 
rise in the same pool, yet the liquids refuse to mingle, 
and the sulphur flows on like a black snake, though 
without tainting the purer element, till it reaches the 
main creek, the general receptacle of all these varied 
tributes. 

Springs of pure alum, of salt, and of sulphur, black, 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 137 

white, and blue, springs of magnesia and springs of 
iron- water, and, again, springs in which all are united, 
abound in this curious region. Epsom salts, alum, 
magnesia, and sulphur can be gathered from the rocks 
without change of position. It is, in brief, a grand 
chemical laboratory of nature. 

Emerging from this deep hollow by dint of clamber- 
ing almost upon hands and knees, the trail crosses a 
small brooklet, whose waters flow in a south-east direc- 
tion towards, the main ravine. Two trees meet across 
it, where, to quote Mr. Ewer, the 'visitor may "carve 
out immortality for himself," and where, judging from 
appearances, many have attempted to do so. 

Continuing on our way, we examined the " Devil's 
Tea-kettle " and " Wash-tubs," and descending the 
Mountain of Eire, recrossed Pluto's Canon and Creek, 
and regained the hotel after an uncommonly fatiguing 
walk, though not more than a mile and a half. 

The Indian spring, one of the greatest luxuries of the 
Geysers, is situated about a mile westward down Pluto's 
Creek, in a small glen on its northern bank. Here the 
Indians have been in the habit of coming for generations 
to benefit by its healing waters, and here, again, the 
Anglo-Saxon has deprived the red man of his heritage. 
The water is hot and darkened with black sulphur, but 
a stream of pure cold water flows through the bath- 
house (a primitive structure of rough boarding, with a 
canopy of dead boughs), available at pleasure. One 
feels a decided reluctance at first to a plunge into the 
black liquid, but its effect upon the skin proves de- 
lightful. 



138 t FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

Over one of the boiling springs, rising on the edge 
of Pluto's Canon, to the east of the hotel, a pine-board 
structure is erected for the purpose of steam-baths ; in 
the second compartment there is a douche of cold water 
from the rock overhanging the bath-house, the whole 
of which latter is not much larger than a bathing- 
machine. 

Perhaps of all the baths, that called the acid or sour 
spring, tying also across Pluto's Creek in a north-westerly 
direction, has the most beneficial effect upon persons 
whose skin is disordered. The following are the in- 
gredients composing it, as analysed by an eminent 
chemist, but we made no note of the proportionate 
quantities of each : — 

Sulphate of aluminium. 
Sulphate of soda. 
Sulphate of lime. 
Sulphate of magnesia. 
Sulphuric acid. 
Protosulphate of iron. 
Chloride of sodium. 
Silica. 

As a tonic, under careful treatment, for the cure of 
dyspepsia, chronic diarrhoea, and a host of ills that 
flesh is heir to, it is invaluable. 

We had many enjoyments during our sojourn in this 
lovely home of nature, not least among which were 
fishing excursions up the banks of the lovely creek, 
from which even ladies never failed to return with a 
plentiful supply of delicious trout. On one occasion 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 139 

we started, a party of three, up the eastern bank, 
leaving word at the coffee-room of the hotel that some 
ladies had started on a fishing excursion in that direc- 
tion in order to prevent parties of gentlemen going — a 
very necessary precaution, as the reader will perceive. 
There are no paths whatever after reaching the mill- 
dam, a half-mile east of the hotel, and beyond that 
point it is necessary to scramble through brushwood 
and " chapparel," in spite of rocks and brambles, now 
on hands and knees, up some crag which overhangs 
the stream, now parting the low boughs of thick trees 
above your head, now in desperation rushing head first 
through a thicket, at the risk of torn hands and scratched 
faces, and now sliding at full length down some rocky 
slope. It may be easily conceived, then, that on such 
occasions and in such places the company of Mesdames 
Fashion and Crinoline is insufferable. We had pre- 
viously donned a light under petticoat, reaching only 
to the ankles ; and we managed to scramble through 
the thick brushwood of the first turn of the creek, after 
quitting the mill-dam, and there out of sight of all the 
rest of humanity, we went into a committee of ways 
and means. Overcoming the scruples of one of our 
number who had never made the excursion before, our 
crinolines, dresses, and white skirts were taken off and 
hung on the boughs of a bending pine. Amid much 
hearty laughter at our appearance in short skirts and the 
white Garibaldi's which we all wore, we then succeeded 
in making the discarded portions of our toilettes suffi- 
ciently fast to the solemn old pine, which waved as 
majestically to and fro as if not conscious of being a 



140 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

fit subject for the mirth which such a novel clothes- 
rack excited. We continued on our way, now stopping 
under the o'erarching boughs at a favourable spot to 
angle for trout, whose graceful evolutions in the trans- 
lucent waters made us half regret the object of our 
excursion. Now we crossed the creek on such parts 
of the boulders in it as afforded any sort of foothold ; 
then hidden from sight by the masses of tall tiger- 
lilies, into which we plunged, half amused, half afraid, 
for rattlesnakes abound there ; and now resting on a 
fragment of rock to enjoy the beauty of the scene, 
amid the intense silence and coolness of the spot, all 
the time realising how glad we were that we had left 
Madame Crinoline to be nursed by the old pine tree ! 
"We proceeded as far as the Falls, three miles from the 
hotel, before we commenced to retrace our steps. It 
was difficult to obtain a good view of the Falls, as the 
creek proceeds between perpendicular rocks of great 
height on either hand for several yards, and then 
curves at a sharp angle, the Falls being round the 
corner of the angle as approached and completely out 
of sight, unless by a scramble up an almost perpendi- 
cular ascent, and a peep at them from above, which 
spoils the beauty of the picture. 

A gentleman afterwards told me that he proceeded 
alone the first time he went fishing as far as these 
Falls, and instead of fishing up the creek as he went, 
intended only to fish down it on his homeward route. 
He reached the near side of the Falls, duly adjusted 
his fishing-tackle, and took up his position. Hardly 
had he done so when an ominous sound amid the trees 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 141 

on the opposite bank reminded him strongly of the 
fact that grizzly bears were occasionally to be seen 
there. Fish, fishing-tackle, trout-dinners, all suddenly 
changed from a charm to a horror in his estimation. 
Careless of even the joke which was sure to go against 
him, he started at double-quick time for the hotel, 
without stopping to assure himself whether his fears 
had any foundation in fact or not. He was a tall, 
stalwart-built man, anything but a coward in ordinary 
dangers, but the idea of meeting a grizzly bear while 
unarmed was too much for him. 

One of our party, on our homeward route, not fol- 
lowing the steps of the more initiated, found herself 
suddenly where she could proceed no further, and was 
compelled to cross the creek to her companions at a 
point where there were no rocks above water to afford 
a foothold. Taking off her boots and stockings, she 
declared it would be easy to cross on the rocks, which 
were but an inch or two at most under water, and 
said it was far preferable to turning back fifty yards to 
the spot where the others had crossed. But the un- 
lucky lady did not realise the slipperiness which attaches 
to such rocks, and at the second step in she went, 
nearly to the waist. Disdaining now to turn back, she 
contrived to flounder the rest of the way across, to the 
dismay of the trout, and for her comfort she had to let 
her clothes dry upon her. Colds, however, are seldom 
taken in that delicious and pure mountain air. 

The luxuriance of vegetation in the Geyser moun- 
tains during the earlier months of summer is extreme. 
Of the flowers which grow so profusely in unheeded 



142 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

beauty, v^e recognised many favourite annuals of the 
European parterres. The Eseholsia (named before), the 
Clarksia pulchella, Nemophylae, and Collinsia bicolor, 
besides the scarlet lychnis, and rarer than either, the 
scarlet columbine. The magnificent tiger-lily reigns 
undisputed queen of these floral regions. 

Like all hotels, the " Geyser " boasts its register 
book of visitors, but unlike others, can boast of being 
quite a curiosity in its way. We observed the name 
of Bayard Taylor, and if we recollect aright, that of 
Lady Franklin. The curiosity of the Geyser register 
consists in the liberties visitors have taken with its 
pages. All sorts of jeux d' esprit are scattered in them. 

The first white man who discovered the Geysers, I 
heard, was a mountaineer, a William B. Elliot, who, during 
the April of 1847, was encamped with a trapping or 
hunting party at Clear Lake, a region some ten or twelve 
miles only north or north-east of the Geysers. They 
had started on a bear hunt, when Elliot, believing he 
had the right trail, separated from his party, and 
spurred his horse over the ridge which divided them 
from the Geysers. He had never beheld a steamboat 
or locomotive, and perceiving steam, or, as he thought, 
smoke, hurried on, surprised at the idea of a human 
habitation there, till he came upon the north end of 
the Devil's Canon, with its roaring noises and boiling 
caldrons. Turning his horse's head in affright, he 
dashed back with his utmost speed to his party, ex- 
claiming as he reached them, pale and breathless with 
excitement, " Boys ! boys ! I've found hell ! " 

It was with great regret that we bade farewell to 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



MS 



the cool green shades of the Geysers. Committing our 
" lives/' if not " our fortunes," to the custody of the 
experienced stage-driver of that perilous road, we de- 
parted in a "concord waggon," or rather "ambulance," 
drawn by four fine horses, that actually took us "on the 
slope" all along the dangerous Hog's Back without 
exciting anything but a sense of extreme exhilaration, 
and left us in safety at the Healdsburg Hotel on our 
way back to the Empire City of the Golden State. 



144 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER IX. 

san francisco hackmen — eccentric characters — the press — state 
fairs — paintings — sables — surgical college — taxation — the in- 
ebriates' home — dashaway society — its organisation and object 

the african race — chastisement of a slave by his mistress — 

slavery english opinion and sympathy " earth's adverse 

principles" re-election of lincoln — gratification of ameri- 
cans at her majesty's letter to mrs. lincoln — feeling of san 
francisco during the war — processions — universal mourning 
for Lincoln's death — action of the excited populace — 
destruction of " copperhead ' newspapers. 

On our arrival in San Francisco, amongst the crowd 
of loungers that invariably surround the wharves we 
found the usual number of hackmen, who rush on 
board the boats as if they had not an instant to live, 
and their eternal happiness or misery depended on their 
success in obtaining occupants for their vehicles. A 
lively young lady not inaptly likened them to a pack 
of ravening wolves. Escaping with our luggage by 
dint of almost frantic efforts, we speedily found our- 
selves bowling along the streets of the bay city towards 
our own door, obtaining from one of the " characters " 
of the place a smile of benign condescension as we 
passed. The " character " in question was an indi- 
vidual known by the familiar title of " Uncle Freddy," 
who either is or feigns to be insane, in consequence 
of which, as he is perfectly harmless, he obtains the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 145 



entree of all places of amusement. He dresses in a suit 
of fine white buckskin, with knee-breeches, tasselled 
boots, and three-cornered hat, the very picture of a 
revolutionary hero. Indeed, he delights in represent- 
ing Washington, as he fondly imagines, to perfection. 
If he is insane, it is much to be deplored that so noble 
and benign a countenance should be thus afflicted. If he 
is not insane, he is much more of a rogue than he looks. 
His attire is always scrupulous in its cleanliness, and 
it is his pride to station himself in full " continental " 
costume in some part of Montgomery Street during 
the fashionable hour, and smile with ineffable self- 
satisfaction at the passers-by, especially the ladies. A 
strong contrast to him, both in expression, attire, and 
personal cleanliness, is a rival in eccentricity, whom I 
have always been disposed, perhaps uncharitably, to 
consider as " more knave than fool/' This worthy 
styles himself the " Emperor of the United States;" 
makes pompous proclamations, especially when he is 
getting out at the elbows, to the effect that it is the 
duty of his loving subjects to provide him with a new 
suit of clothes ; and he never hesitates about interrupt- 
ing the gravest deliberations of a jury or the legislature, 
which he is good-naturedly permitted to do with 
impunity. He wears a suit of cast-off regimentals, 
with huge epaulets, and a red scarf tied round his 
waist. 

San Francisco supports several large newspapers. 
Their total number I cannot affirm positively. The 
Alta California, American Flag, and Evening Bulletin 
are very large daily papers. The little Morning Call 

L 



r 4 6 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



assumes for itself the largest daily circulation, above 
9,500, in a city of 100,000 inhabitants. There is also 
the daily Evening Journal, the Herald and Mirror, the 
Pacific, the Echo du Pacifique, Le Phare, and others 
whose names I forget ; the Sunday Mercury, Cali- 
fomian, and Golden Era — the three latter are exclu- 
sively literary papers. There are one or two magazines 
besides. The Sacramento Union is undeniably the best 
paper in the State. I am sorry candour compels me to 
admit that, beyond matters of local interest, the very 
lightest of light reading alone is appreciated by the 
generality of Californians. It would appear that they 
are commonly so deeply engrossed in the race after 
wealth, position, or fame, that they require only to 
be amused in the few leisure moments left them in 
their restless endeavours to grasp the phantoms they so 
ardently pursue. 

State fairs are an " institution" of California. They 
are held at regular intervals alternately in the larger 
cities. The various articles of home production exhi- 
bited do credit to the young State. The last of these 
fairs which took place was held in San Francisco, where 
a circular wooden structure of very large dimensions 
was erected in one of the squares, nearly covering its 
entire area. The machinery department, and the 
brass- works in particular, were highly creditable. 
Among the fine arts most of the pictures, as is 
customary at the majority of such exhibitions, were 
wretched daubs and burlesques upon art ; but here 
and there the eye of the observer lighted on a gem 
whose lustre redeemed the sombreness of the mediocre 



THE GOLDEN GATE. i 47 

productions, giving the false a use as foils to the true. 
One lady, a Madame Mathieu, exhibited some exquisite 
water-colour drawings of simple subjects, such as flowers 
and " wayside waifs." A pair of paintings uncommonly 
beautiful, by this artist, were nothing more than a 
couple of birds'-nests in the lower part of a hedge, 
almost buried in clusters of primroses. Nature was 
never more closely delineated in every detail of straw 
and grass, and weed and flower, natural to such a tiny 
portion of her treasures. A more ambitious painting, 
by the same artist, was a water- colour view in Scotland. 
Two oil-paintings of Californian mountain gorges, 
strongly after the style of Calame, struck me espe- 
cially ; and one little foot-square bit of " Sunset on 
the Sea- shore " was, in my judgment, the gem of the 
whole collection. There were some creditable views of 
Californian scenery by a Mr. Frederick Butnam, an 
artist of whom the world is likely one day to hear more, 
if the native modesty of real merit does not, as in too 
many cases, prevent his courting that distinction which 
his talent deserves. If his paintings are as crude and 
capable of improvement in many respects as some assert 
who assume to criticise him, there is the undeniable 
stamp of a genius upon them which only needs more 
of classical study to give it a prominent niche in the 
temple of art. 

Conspicuous among the objects of Californian in 
terest was a magnificent cape of the finest Russian sable ; 
the fur from Sittra, made up in San Francisco, and 
valued at a hundred guineas. Some beautiful specimens 
of cabinet-work in the various woods of California were 



148 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

also exhibited. The fancy-work department was highly- 
creditable to the ladies of the Golden State. 

The public spirit of one of the citizens has endowed 
San Francisco with a Surgical College, which, when 
completed in every detail, will be worthy of the metro- 
polis of the Pacific. It contains lecture-rooms capable 
of accommodating two hundred and fifty students. The 
cost of the entire building was estimated at 75,000 
dollars. 

The Inebriates' Home, so called, owes its origin to 
the Dashaway Society — a temperance organisation 
which originated in the year 1859. The Inebriates' 
Home is a philanthropic institution for the reformation 
of drunkards of either sex. The total number admitted 
into the Home since its institution is 1,610. The 
length of time which these patients have remained in 
the Home has varied from two days to three months. 
Few remain more than a week or two. So soon as they 
think themselves equal to resisting the temptation to 
drink they are discharged. Some return several times 
to the Home, utterly incapable of reformation ; a few, 
however, have reformed ; and to the benevolent sup- 
porters of the institution this fact presents a sufficient 
incentive to perseverance in their philanthropic efforts. 
One man and his wife were received while intoxicated 
and in a destitute condition. They remained some 
time, appeared seriously reformed, and finally were 
discharged. The director lost sight of them until, 
happening to be in church on a Communion Sunday, 
he saw this very couple received into the Church 
whom he had taken to the Home in the very depth of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 149 

wretchedness and inebriation. They expressed their 
grateful acknowledgments, informed him that they 
now owned the little cottage in which they lived, and 
were happy and industrious. Is there an Inebriates' 
Home in London ? If not, might not some of Mr. 
Trevelyan's surplus zeal in the cause of temperance be 
appropriately and humanely expended in the erection 
of one, accomplishing a great purpose at least as effec- 
tually as by trenching on the freedom of the nation, 
and making sumptuary laws which attack the liberty 
of the subject ? Such an organisation as the Dashaway 
Club also might be brought to answer very nearly to 
Mr. Layard's sensible and kindly desire to increase 
the happiness of the working classes. The Dashaway 
Association of California has its debating, amateur 
theatrical, and musical societies ; and its members meet 
on certain days of the month, with their wives and 
daughters, for the purpose of dancing and social re- 
creation. Weekly lectures are delivered to the mem- 
bers on scientific or other subjects by gentlemen of in- 
formation, who take an interest in the well-being of 
the society, and volunteer for that purpose. 

It was shortly before I quitted San Francisco that 
the long-suffering African race succeeded in urging 
its claims to civil equality, at such fearful cost 
to the white race. There are, as I have already 
said, many negroes in the free State of California, 
or, as a young American facetiously terms them, 
" gentlemen of the coloured persuasion. " Long before 
the commencement of the terrible war which has so 
convulsed the United States, they were conspicuous for 



150 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

their quiet conduct. I never remember to have seen a 
negro intoxicated in the street, and brawls among them 
are rare. It is a sad reflection on the warm-headed 
sons of the Emerald Isle, that they should be so con- 
spicuous for failings for which even the negro may 
well hold himself their superior. Whatever excuse 
they may put forward for the fact in their native land, 
the Government they are so forward to accuse of being 
at the root of all their evils, they can hardly excuse 
themselves on this score in America. If, as I under- 
stand, they are indignant at the civil equality conferred 
upon the coloured people, they will do well to remember 
that it is their own fault alone if they suffer in conse- 
quence, to say nothing of the absurdity of a people 
who cry out against home tyranny, and openly exclaim 
against the emancipation of any of the human race ! 
Myself a native of a free country, never having lived 
or travelled in the Southern States, I am unable to offer 
any opinion upon the " peculiar institutions' ' of the 
latter, except that which springs spontaneously to the 
lips of those who instinctively recognise the right of 
every human being to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness/' 

I have observed in a preceding page that slave-owners 
could bring slaves into California. I now find they might 
retain them there. I have also alluded to the conduct 
of a lady there one day towards her slave. I will state it 
fully, as evidence sufficient to satisfy the reader that 
the abolition pictures of Southern life were not so much 
exaggerated, when a lady could so far forget herself in 
her conduct. I will here notice it more particularly, 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



I5f 



for the inference will be fuller, especially regarding 
a State that simply admitted a slave with his owner, 
though it forbade dealing. The slave in question 
was a remarkably intelligent youth. His duty was 
that of a coachman. From some accident or inat- 
tention while driving through the town, he injured the 
panelling of the carriage. The damage was trifling, 
but sufficient to arouse the ire of his mistress, who, on 
her arrival at home, in the extreme of passion wrested 
the whip from the negro's hand, and administered as 
violent a castigation to the offending youth as her phy- 
sical strength would enable her to inflict. Never shall 
I forget the impression made upon me by that cir- 
cumstance. The sense of degradation manifest in the 
intelligent countenance of the youth, the look of utter 
hopelessness which characterised it, combined with a firm 
resolve not to betray, by the writhing of a muscle, the 
pain which he necessarily suffered ; such deep capacity 
for endurance, so much resignation, such suppressed 
yet acute sense of wrong, affected me beyond expres- 
sion. My indignant remonstrances, instead of shaming, 
only increased her passion, but it made her slave mine 
in the highest sense, that of grateful regard. That 
youth would have gone through fire and water to serve 
me afterwards. I needed no greater proof of the lengths 
to Avhich the power of that frightful despotism of the 
master over the slave was likely to run, in any country 
devoted to its perpetuation, without legal restraint. 
Hundreds of Southern slave-holders might be good, 
humane, and noble men ; but while a law existed 
which condemned one human being to suffer wrong 



152 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

and misery at the mere caprice of another, that law 
must be fundamentally, socially, and morally wrong, 
and no amount of sophistry can reverse the wrong. 
Human nature, in its best phases, is rarely fit for 
unquestioned and unlimited power. There are, and 
have been, Washingtons, but the Torquamadas of 
society are always in the majority where despotism is 
the rule. How England, — the land of Fox, Wilberforce, 
and Clarkson, — the country which so nobly showered 
her golden treasures to ransom the slave in her own 
dependencies, — the soil on which the foot of that slave 
once placed, he was a slave no more, — the land whose 
flag floated for years unparalleled on earth as the 
symbol of the free, — the pride of free hearts, the em- 
blem of exalted hopes, the very polestar of the tortured 
and degraded African, how that England could be so 
fatally false to her own high moral nature as, for one 
passing moment, to sympathise with the oppressor of 
the unhappy negro would be a marvel and a mystery, 
did we not know how omnipotent is the moneyed interest 
in all commercial countries. The moneyed interest 
was the originator and supporter of slavery to the last, 
and it was that sympathised with the South in England. 
The only way in which posterity — that unprejudiced 
judge of national action — can possibly gloss over so 
glaring a reverse of professed principle by any in our 
time, will be the fact of the influential high-flown 
party attached to the Holy Alliance powers, seconded 
by ship-builders, Jewish loan-mongers, and such as 
are moved only by arbitrary principle and the sordid 
lust of gain, largely influencing the English press. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 153 

American hearts that beat with throbs of filial regard 
for the mother- country must know this, in spite of the 
many unpleasant truths constantly spoken among rela- 
tives, who often overlook each other's real virtues in 
the clash of conflicting interests. At that same 
time, they really cared more for each other's good 
opinion than for that of any besides in the world ; and 
they have, from first to last, during the war of " earth's 
adverse principles" in their borders, possessed the 
unswerving sympathy of all high-principled, far-seeing, 
and right-judging Englishmen. How gratefully upon 
American ears at the time would have fallen a little 
more impulsive and outspoken heartiness of sympathy 
with the " sublime" principle for which they were 
struggling ! I well recollect how anxiously, how 
yearningly, every fresh expression of British feeling 
was watched for. If bitterness were engendered by the 
venal action of her ship-builders and money-mongers, 
one genuine outburst of kindly feeling from any other 
rank of her people would have removed it all. But 
that outburst should have come during the struggle, 
Dot after the North was victorious. I was in San 
Francisco at the time of Lincoln's assassination, and 
there, as in New York, which I visited shortly after, I 
well remember what deep gratification the course taken 
by the illustrious lady of England, in her autograph 
letter, written before diplomatic action was taken on 
the subject, afforded the whole American nation, and 
how nearly the spontaneous expression of horror, in- 
dignation, and sympathy from England obliterated much 
of the memory of previous bitterness. Did the two. 



154 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

countries but realise, with all their various faults, how 
truly worthy the Anglo-Saxon race on either side the 
Atlantic are of each other alone in their mutual ele- 
ments of overwhelming glory and greatness, the world 
would be benefited by the realisation. England and 
America united in friendly sympathy, the future of the 
Anglo-Saxon race reads, " the dominion and happiness 
of the world;" the reverse of it is, "the misery of 
humanity." The Latin and Cossack races can compre- 
hend the oracle well. 

I had frequently been asked, after my arrival in 
England, how San Franciscans generally were affected 
throughout the war. During the latter part of the 
struggle, up to the re-nomination of the ill-fated Presi- 
dent, doubt was expressed by many as to whether the 
city would prove loyal to the existing Government. 
The triumphant re-election of Lincoln, not only by 
San Francisco, but by the entire State of California, 
set the matter decisively at rest. The Secession ele- 
ment proved much less powerful in effect than it had 
appeared throughout the previous political campaign. 
It mustered a strong force in the processions which 
marched under the banners of M'Clellan, the opposition 
" Copperhead " or democratic candidate. The number of 
men who composed the last Copperhead processions there 
could not have been less than ten thousand. They 
marched through the streets of the city from 8 till 
12 p.m., carrying torches, coloured lanterns, and vari- 
ous devices burlesquing the existing administration. 
Their distinctive badge was a broom. Nearly every 
man carried one. Their motto was something to the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 155 

effect that they intended to sweep corruption from 
office. In consequence of this they were sarcastically 
called by the Lincolnists " Broom Rangers." A few 
evenings after, the Union party announced a grand 
procession, and in point of grandeur they redeemed 
their promise. The procession must have numbered 
fifteen thousand men, divided into companies. Military, 
civilians, fire brigades, art, mechanics, and trades were 
all represented. Montgomery Street for an hour and 
a half, from end to end, was one blaze of red, white, 
and blue light ; rockets were fired incessantly from the 
roofs of houses ; coloured lamps, enormous banners, 
and gas illuminations extended across the street ; the 
windows were filled by well-dressed ladies, many wear- 
ing the Union colours (red, white, and blue), waving 
their handkerchiefs in response to the cheering of the 
crowd below as the procession moved past. Bonfires 
blazed at the intersections of cross streets, and innu- 
merable editions of " Old Kong," as they fondly term 
the stars and stripes, were issued to meet the public 
gaze from every available point of sight. There were 
thousands of them. One gigantic flag hung endwise 
across the street from a cord attached to the tops of 
the highest houses. This fell so low as almost to impede 
the passage of vehicles beneath, and was wide enough to 
reach half over the pavement on either side. It was 
composed entirely of coloured silks fringed with deep 
gold bullion. A more brilliant sight than Montgomery 
Street presented that night was rare in any country. 
So great was the enthusiasm that as the various bands, 
military and otherwise, moved by, playing the new and 



156 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

spirit-stirring war song, "The Battle Cry of Freedom," 
the crowd, and even the ladies in the balconies and 
windows, took up the chorus. 

Time passed on, and Lincoln was re-elected by an 
overwhelming majority. San Francisco, as the chief 
city of California, testified her joy in a suitable manner, 
and subsided again into her ordinary routine of work- 
a-day life. Suddenly, one morning, the city was startled 
by a simultaneous display of flags at half-mast nearly 
all over the city. The church bells commenced tolling. 
The inhabitants of suburban districts were amazed. 
Those in town quickly learnt the fatal news which 
flashed over the wires, and speedily communicated it 
to their neighbours. Half- way on my road down town 
for a morning walk, I observed the lowered flags, 
and entered a shop to inquire the meaning, and the 
grief was apparent on every face as I proceeded. The 
person of whom I inquired could hardly trust herself 
to reply, " Oh, madam, our good President is assas- 
sinated." Hopeful as many were at first that the news 
was unfounded, like many reports of victories never 
won, which had been telegraphed and rejoiced over 
before, a mere canard, they found it quickly confirmed. 
By the time I reached the heart of the city, the stores 
or shops were rapidly closing, and stalwart men, many 
of them with eyes brimful of the tears their manhood 
disdained to shed, were hastily draping the fronts of 
their respective dwellings with mourning. In a short 
time not a house was to be seen destitute of its mourn- 
ing badge. Notorious Secessionists, perchance trembling 
for the consequences of the mad act upon a justly 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 157 

irritated people, sought to smooth down popular indig- 
nation towards themselves and their property by- 
assuming what was truly in their case a " mockery of 
woe ; " for several did not hesitate while in the streets 
to express their approbation of the deed which made 
all Europe shudder. But the deep mind and great 
heart of the public were not to be deceived. Men knew 
it was a burlesque in relation to the death of the good 
and noble man whom their dishonest principles had 
driven out of life. There was a settled, sullen gloom 
resting on the faces of the people as they clustered 
together, the very quiet which brooded over the lately 
busy streets prognosticating more to the thoughtful 
than any violent exclamations of sorrow would have 
done. The calm often precedes as well as follows the 
storm. The telegraph office was fairly besieged by an 
anxious crowd, to gratify which bulletins were exhi- 
bited as rapidly as received. An English gentleman 
whispered to me, " I only wonder how they keep so 
calm. I don't believe I could feel worse if it had been 
Queen Victoria. And, by heaven ! if I was an American, 
I am afraid I should have shot the first Secessionist I 
met. A cold-blooded, brutal, dastardly act ; I believe 
it was a madman's ; but if it turns out a conspiracy, I 
can hardly blame the Yankees if they go in for exter- 
mination. Some Secessionists have been glorying in 
the news ; if they do that there will be bloodshed here 
beyond all question." 

Well, reader, this crowd of exasperated republicans 
— Americans, notorious as they are in some Western 



158 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

as in Southern districts, for the unscrupulous use of 
the bowie-knife and revolver — these citizens of a 
nation where every man holds himself a sovereign — 
how, think you, did they wreak their vengeance for 
their beloved and murdered chief magistrate ? Did 
they shoot down, stab, or kill obnoxious and unpopular 
men — men whom they believed to have been active in 
instigating the deed? No. Did they outrage their 
rights, burn their houses, destroy their property, insult 
their wives and daughters ? Nothing of the kind. 
Calmly and determinedly they went to the offices of 
opposition papers, organs of the " Copperhead " party, 
that had for months been darkly hinting at the 
removal of the President in some mysterious manner, 
and when they found the police surrounding them, 
before their arrival — for danger was apprehended — 
they respectfully listened to the remarks made by the 
Chief of Police, quietly made their way to other offices, 
entered them, and in less than two hours every article 
composing the material and type of those papers was 
taken from their offices, cast into the street, and utterly 
destroyed, without the smallest injury to the rights of 
other papers carried on in the same buildings. In one 
case, I was told, the type partially employed between a, 
Union and Secession sheet was spared out of deference to 
the former. This work accomplished, they dispersed 
without injury to a single individual. So much for the 
self-restraint and orderly conduct of a city that day 
under circumstances of great provocation, which only 
ten short years ago needed the stringent efforts of a 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 159 

Vigilance Committee in which to insure order and peace. 
San Francisco in this instance set a noble example to 
the violent and brutal mobs of New York, and many 
other cities both in Europe and America. 



i6o FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER X. 

NEVADA MINES — GRAND SCENERY AMONG THE NEVADAS — PIONEERS- 
CARSON VALLEY— KIT CARSON — VIRGINIA CITY BOARD OF BROKERS — 

ROMANTIC CASE OF GRATITUDE — REESE RIVER — APPEARANCE OF THE 
GREAT BASIN ITS MINERAL WEALTH — THE PACIFIC RAILROAD — CALI- 
FORNIA AND OREGON LINE GRANTS OF CONGRESS — IDAHO TERRITORY 

■ — AGRICULTURE — SONOMA COUNTY — PETALUMA — HEALDSBURG RUS8 

RIVER VALLEY — GREEN CORN — SUCCOTASH ROADS — PETROLEUM — A 
SETTLER'S WIFE — COPPER MINES. 

The discovery of the silver mines of the Sierra Nevada 
caused a great exodus from California to that State, 
then merely a territory of the Union. The road from 
San Francisco to Nevada proceeds by way of Sacra- 
mento, Folsom, Placeville, and other towns, and beyond 
them, by a hazardous road over mountains, down ravines, 
and through deep gorges, to Carson, a city situated 
in a valley of the same name, called after a hero of 
Indian adventures, Kit Carson. No pen can do justice 
to the majestic beauty of the pine forests which 
clothe the summits of the entire range of the Sierra 
Nevada. The last mountain gorge through which 
travellers pass before they emerge into the compara- 
tive daylight of Carson Valley seems as if it had 
been a chasm rent in a granite mountain. Boulders of 
granite, as large as two-story houses, lie as if rained 
down on every hand. It seems as if some gigantic 
convulsion of nature had shattered the Yery founda- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 161 

tions of the earth. The sides of the mountain in 
places where the chasm is rent appear literally to over- 
hang the road many hundred feet above ; huge crags 
seem ready to break from their frail supports, and 
tumble into atoms on other crags below ; while enor- 
mous rocks are so perched in situations that the touch 
of a finger seems enough to displace them. A foaming 
mountain torrent leaps down this chasm from rock to 
rock, and frequently crosses the road, now many feet 
under a rough bridge of unhewn logs, and then ripples 
peacefully between the very hoofs of the coach-horses. 
Lofty pines have taken root and shot their graceful 
columns many score feet high in air long ages since 
those giant boulders of granite were torn from their 
original abiding-places. Tons of gunpowder have been 
employed in blasting the rocks to render the road only 
as good as it is at present, and it is terrific enough even 
now. The undaunted men who first attempted to cross 
the Nevada with waggons had to take them to pieces 
at that place, and were a week getting through that 
single ravine or canon, only six miles in length. 
How little can people accustomed to the calm tran- 
quillity of life in countries like peaceful " merrie Eng- 
land " realise the danger, and difficulty, and sleep- 
less vigilance which are the portion of the pioneers 
in the task of developing the resources of new countries ; 
those dauntless individuals who, in their simple, un- 
pretending, and unconscious way, work out as van- 
guards that civilisation which will cne day encircle 
every spot upon earth in its triumphant embrace ! 
Carson Valley is about twenty miles long, somewhat 

M 



1 62 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

oval in shape, sloping gently from the base of the 
mountains on the north, near which, and not far from 
the mouth of the canon alluded to, nestles the pretty 
town of Carson. The soil of this vale is black and 
loamy, watered by Carson river, a beautiful stream 
which meanders from end to end of that oval- shaped 
valley, and passes Carson city rather more than half 
the width of the valley distant from it. Grass, clover, 
and wild flowers compose the lawn-like surface of the 
ground, which is destitute of trees, excepting a thin 
line of foliage on the immediate edge of the river, or 
dark pines which clothe the sides of the mountains, 
a few yards from their bases up to their summits. 
The Sierra Nevada Mountains separate the State of 
California from that of Nevada, rising like a wall. 
The balmy west winds, which sweep over the wide 
Pacific, discharge their principal moisture upon the 
favoured Californian slope, and hovering awhile over 
the snow- clad peaks of the towering Sierra Nevada, 
pass onward with their dower of ice, and snow, and 
cutting frost, to the less fortunate soil of Nevada. 
Carson river rises in the Sierras, and finally loses 
itself in a small lake. It abounds with delicious trout, 
and is about a hundred miles in length. The Indians 
spear the trout, or kill them with arrows. 

Kit Carson, the intrepid discoverer of this region, 
is still alive, and, I believe, was engaged by Govern- 
ment during the war, somewhere in the southern 
regions of California or in Texas. Since the influx of 
emigrants into Nevada, in consequence of the discovery 
of its silver mines, the city of Virginia — already far 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 163 

surpassing its elder sister, Carson, in size and appear- 
ance — has sprung into existence on a barren ridge of 
land, desolate exceedingly to the eye of the artist, and 
desirable as a residence to none but those who are 
anxiously seeking the " gold that perisheth." It is 
a very unhealthy climate, probably on account of the 
strong alkaline property of the only water obtainable 
in its vicinity. The discovery of the "Washoe silver 
mines, in the neighbourhood of Virginia city, had a 
powerful effect upon San Franciscan commerce and 
activity, more especially in the establishment of a 
novel "Board of Brokers" in Montgomery Street — 
that boasted promenade of the fair sex, or the " Ladies' 
Street," as it is termed. Fearful inroads are now made 
on its allegiance to its goddesses ; hundreds of well- 
dressed men daily congregating in masses on its pave- 
ment, some having offices, and many mere " street 
brokers," who seize a friend by the collar, and dragging 
him into a passage, and seating themselves on the first 
step of stairs leading to lawyers' offices, will badger the 
unwilling victim into the investment of his dollars in 
a mining company, which frequently has no existence, 
excepting in the fertile brain of the broker or the 
credulous one of the shareholder. In such cases the 
" specimens " shown have been purchased for a trifle, 
and serve to lure the simple-minded investor to losses 
he can ill afford. The fluctuations of the market are so 
great and rapid that the best paying mines, such as the 
celebrated " Gould and Curry," which on one occasion 
declared a dividend of 120,000 dollars on 1,200 feet 
of ground, have been known to depreciate from 6,000 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



dollars per share to 600 dollars. Notwithstanding 
the immense quantity of gold and silver realised by 
the Washoe mines, more money, I believe, has been 
made upon the fluctuations in the value of their shares 
by the harpy -like brokers than has gone into the 
pockets of those who owned them. The following, 
from the pages of a weekly paper in San Francisco, 
was given as a satire upon the gentlemen in question, 
from the pen of a lady at that time editress of a small 
"monthly magazine " in that city : — 

" The brokers of San Francisco, to the stranger, 
present the appearance of a crowd of nabobs who 
are content to dwell together in harmony. Their 
extravagant dress and apparent ease of carriage give 
them an air of nobleness unlike the Wall Street men 
of New York, who walk as if they were driven before 
a body of police, their pale faces and compressed lips 
testifying heavy cares and immense business — their 
whole appearance indicative of responsibility and 
anxiety. The Californian brokers seem to be men 
rolling in wealth and luxury. Good-nature beams 
in their faces wherever you meet them. One fact is 
certain — no matter whether in funds or out, in debt 
or otherwise, the faces look equally as comfortable, 
and laziness supports her style. They are the most 
liberal men in the world ! Liberal with money, with 
assistance, and patronage to all novel enterprises; 
liberal in ideas and views of facts and people, never 
complaining, and chanting the ' Pauper's Burial ; ' 
at home anywhere, but never at their office. They 
congregate in swarms, and a broker is known as soon 



THE GOLDEN GA TE. 165 

as seen. A youth without money or credit can com- 
mence that business easier than any other, and make 
it more profitable. A yard of crape on his hat, a 
pocketfull of certificates (he can get them printed 
anywhere for a trifle), a mineral specimen or two, 
and he has all he needs to establish himself in a 
thriving business. By paying twenty-five dollars, he 
can become an honorary member of the Board of 
Brokers ; he will have nothing to do, and prosper 
nobly, having an identity, a position — a position he 
cannot acquire in any other line of business. He will 
then find himself the recipient of frequent invitations 
to social gatherings, clubs, Russian balls, and sundry 
recreations. There is a comfortable way of living as 
brokers in San Francisco, a genial ease and luxury 
about it, stamped in semblance upon every one of 
them, giving them an easy air and style unequalled 
by any other profession or class of men. They appeal 
to the good feeling of the stranger, and are most 
attractive to the new-comer who walks down Mont- 
gomery Street, with open eyes in amazement, watch- 
ing them with intense interest, and their ' feet ' with 
speculation." 

The observer concludes the description of them : — 
" Yerily England has not their compeers — such men 
of healing power and wisdom of feet ! Paris has no 
rival, Germany no match for them." 

Some startling anecdotes are related in the mining 
regions of the Far West. The following is a specimen 
of one of the "YVashoites, or Washoe mining adven- 
turers, and not an unpleasing one : — 



1 66 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

" Some time ago, a poor penniless adventurer arrived 
at San Bernardino, his clothes in rags, his cheeks 
hollow, and his eyes with that singular, perhaps fierce, 
expression seen in those who have been some time 
without food. The stranger stopped at a lone farm- 
house, and in a hesitating manner begged for a meal. 
The ranchero, or farmer, an opulent man, at once 
complied with his request. On entering into conver- 
sation, it was found that the stranger was endeavour- 
ing to make his way to the mines, had miscalculated 
the expenses, and had not means to carry him to the 
end of his journey. The farmer was so impressed 
with the stranger's story, that he lent him money to 
help him to his destination. Some time had elapsed, 
when the farmer, despoiled of his little property, 
sought out a precarious living in San Francisco, and 
subsisted with difficulty. More time had passed in 
that way, when a well-dressed gentleman drove up 
to the poor farmer's quarters in the city. It contained 
the penniless man whom the farmer had once relieved 
with a meal and money. His fortunes had changed. 
He had made money rapidly in mining at the silver 
mines of Washoe. He invited the farmer, with his 
family, to ride with him and see a cottage he had 
just purchased in the suburbs of the city. On reach- 
ing it, one of the neatest in the vicinity, and well 
furnished, the former were invited to a repast, when 
the host said to the poor man : ' It is not long ago 
since I came, a destitute stranger, to your gate for 
something to satisfy my craving from hunger. You 
sent me on my way rejoicing, with more money than 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 167 



I had had for some time before. I am, you know, that 
stranger. I reached my destination by your means. 
I succeeded there, and am become wealthy. I visited 
San Bernardino to find you and repay the obligation 
in vain. I sought, but could not find you. I now 
find you nearly as destitute as I was when you relieved 
my hunger. You have been pleased to admire this 
cottage ; it is yours. Take it with its contents, and 
may Heaven enable you to prosper as I have pros- 
pered/ The title-deeds were placed in the hands of the 
astonished farmer, and he was once more restored to 
comfort and a home." 

To return. Farther still from Carson city than 
Virginia lies the still more newly developed Reese River 
district, touching the mines of which there is nothing 
of special interest to report. Continual explorations 
develop an increasing number of quartz ledges, and 
great confidence is felt in the ultimate richness of the 
entire region. Great impediments to the develop- 
ment of its enormous wealth exist in the lack of 
water-power, the scarcity of timber either for fuel 
or lumber, and the heavy expense attendant on the 
freightage of machinery requisite for crushing the 
quartz. Nearly all the gold and silver found in 
Nevada is imbedded principally in quartz rocks. A 
large capital is therefore necessary to erect a suffi- 
cient number of quartz- crushing mills, without which 
nothing can be accomplished. The silver is sent to 
San Francisco in the form of small square blocks, 
termed silver bricks. 

There is no doubt that the whole of the great basin 



1 68 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

lying betwixt the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra 
Nevada range will prove hardly inferior in mineral 
wealth to the Pacific slope. The face of the entire 
country east of the Sierras presents in its general 
features a parched, barren, desolate appearance, utterly 
destitute, for scores of miles together, of either timber, 
verdure, or vegetation of any kind. Beyond Vir- 
ginia are whole tracts of country destitute even of 
water. I imagine that the very arid desolation of 
the landscape would suggest, even to the uninitiated, 
the probable presence of mineral wealth. The extreme 
dearth of water and fuel might induce fear lest the 
sole productions of those widespread tracts of land 
should be for ever unattainable by man ; but already 
the distant soil of Nebraska and the neighbouring 
shores of California are resounding with the strokes 
of that prince of pioneers, the pickaxe, foretelling 
that the sovereignty of even those inaccessible regions 
belongs to civilisation ; the anvil is already forging 
the iron hoof whose despotic tread will trample on 
the solitudes of centuries ; the Pacific Railway has 
commenced, and, freighted as it will be with the 
industry and achievements of nations, the silent valleys 
and sterile plains of the great basin will speedily 
become the inheritance of those twin giants of human 
progress — Science and Labour. 

Teeming with wealth as that inheritance assuredly 
is, it requires only the completion of the grand iron 
highwa}^ to astonish the earth with its developments. 
Humboldt asserts that diamonds exist there. Opals 
have been lately discovered. Iron and coal, gold, 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 169 

silver, copper, and quicksilver already abound. At 
present the necessity of the " Far West " will no 
doubt lengthen the list of mineral products. When 
the fertility of the Pacific slope is considered, and the 
capability of the country, especially for vegetable pro- 
ductions, — even cotton having been raised on the 
American river in her borders, — when the extent of 
pasture lands, grain fields, peach orchards, and vine- 
yards is fully ascertained, in addition to the maritime 
advantages, who will venture to set bounds to the 
wealth and extent of population of that country which, 
in a crude and imperfectly developed condition, has 
already succeeded in so startling the world by its natural 
productions ? 

San Francisco county alone voted a subscription of 
600,000 dollars towards the stock of the Great Pacific 
Central Railroad, determining, as did the universal 
voice of the Pacific slope, that in spite of national wars 
or debts, that railway should be built. 

Second only to the Great Pacific Railroad in its 
importance to California is the proposed Californian 
and Oregon line, a bill for extending national aid to 
which has already passed through Congress. The 
length of this line (650 miles) will, when completed, 
be equal to one-third that of the " Great Pacific," or 
" Great Continental Railway," to which it will prove 
an important adjunct. Its estimated cost is 30,000,000 
dollars. 

The California and Oregon Railroad project is in 
the hands of two corporations, organised respectively 
in the two States. The California company proposes 



170 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

to make the road from the terminus of the present 
Marysville and Ocoville Railway to the Siskiyou moun- 
tains on the Oregon border, via Red Bluff, Shasta, and 
Yreka. The Oregon company, known as the " Cali- 
fornia and Columbia River Railroad Company," will 
continue it through the Rogue river, Umpqua and 
Wallamet valleys, to Portland. Apart from the need 
for it as a connection between the Great Continental 
line and Puget Sound, a line of railroad connecting 
the productive valley lands of Northern California and 
Oregon with tide water can alone give the settlers 
in those regions quick access to the best markets for 
their produce, and enable them to export large quan- 
tities of grain, the transportation of which to market 
at present is impossible at remunerative rates. In 
addition to these considerations, this railroad will be 
in the direct line of the coast trade, now " vitalised " by 
the northern mining discoveries. It will be infinitely 
preferable to the sea route for the freight and travel 
between California, Oregon, Idaho, and British Co- 
lumbia. The whole line of the proposed railway 
possesses great agricultural resources, unlimited water- 
power for manufacturing purposes, vast forests of 
timber, and mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron. 
Congress has liberally made a donation to the Com- 
pany of the California and Oregon Railway of every 
alternate section of land (excepting, of course, mineral 
land) for ten miles on either side the road. The Great 
Pacific or Continental line, being of a less local, or 
rather, of a more national character, will receive double 
this amount of land, with the still further privilege of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



going forty miles on either side their line, and taking 
up even sections in lieu of odd sections pre-empted, 
sold, or reserved. 

Every alternate ten miles of the road is therefore 
a munificent grant, securing to the shareholders 6,400 
acres for making each mile of the road, or 4,160,000 
acres for the distance of 650 miles, the length of the 
proposed line. The lands thus granted are chiefly in 
the valley regions of California and Oregon, and will 
undoubtedly be very soon as valuable for farming 
purposes as the prairie lands of Illinois, so liberally 
granted to the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
which have made that railway company the wealthiest 
in the United States. At the Government price of 
25 dollars per acre, the Oregon Railroad grant is worth 
to-day 5,200,000 dollars. 

The new territory of Idaho, mentioned above, 
possesses claims to notice as a gold-mining region, 
although the difficulty of obtaining water, that grand 
desideratum of mining districts, together with the 
length of the wintery season, operate unfavourably 
for the development of its resources. I derive my 
information on this point from an experienced miner 
who, having made two fortunes in California during 
the early days of her mining history, and succeeded 
in eventually losing both, spent three years in Idaho, 
and returned even poorer than he went. 

The projected Oregon Railway will doubtless procure 
for Idaho the artificial aids to prosperity which are 
necessary. In contrast to the information derived as 
above stated relative to the severity of the Idaho 



172 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

winters, I quote from the Lewiston (North. Idaho) 
Radiator the following : — 

" Few places can be found in this latitude where the 
winter climate is more agreeable than in Lewiston. 
Not more than two inches of snow have remained on 
the ground during the present winter. The trails 
between this and Elk city and Oro Fino have been 
regularly travelled by express men. 

"It is a pleasant contrast to the route over the 
Nevada Mountains on the Washoe stage line, where 
fifteen feet of snow extend for scores of miles; the 
travellers frequently making that part of the trip in 
sleighs, and sometimes being compelled to walk in 
snow-shoes. At such times some persons become what 
is termed snow-blind, an affection of the sight occa- 
sioned by the glare of the snow. Else nothing, as is 
well known, can be more exhilarating than a sleigh 
ride ; the bracing air, the rapid motion, the sparkling 
crystallised appearance of nature, the merry jingle of 
the sleigh bells, are agreeable anywhere, and doubly 
so where enjoyment is enhanced by the slight chance 
of danger which prevents it from becoming monotonous. 
Future settlers in Idaho, however, in spite of the fine 
winters at Lewiston, may rely on sufficient snow for 
pleasant sleighing as one of the attractions of a resi- 
dence there." 

The name of Idaho signifies " gem of the moun- 
tains." It is of Indian origin. 

The present great agricultural county, as before re- 
marked, is that of Sonoma. Its variety of soil and 
beauty of climate are equally well adapted to the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 173 

culture of the grape, and to the growth of grain and 
vegetables. To these advantages must be added the 
natural superiority from a facility of communication 
with San Francisco. Sonoma is perhaps, with the sole 
exception of Napa, the most fortunate county in the 
State. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, and buckwheat are 
a certain crop everywhere. The finest potatoes in 
California are grown there. Russian River valley is 
par excellence the corn-growing valley of the State ; and 
all these vegetable productions grow without irriga- 
tion or special care, though this is almost the only 
district in California that will do it. In some parts of 
Calaveras county, and a few other spots only, beside 
Russia River valley, can Indian corn be grown in this 
way. Farmers in England tremble for the harvest if 
rain is withheld for six consecutive weeks, and yet in 
that splendid agricultural country not a shower falls 
for eight or nine months together ! Sonoma county is 
likewise famous for its fruit. Its vineyards are but 
little inferior to those of Los Angeles, the more southern 
and grape- growing region of the county. The care- 
less method of farming common to the country is 
giving way in Sonoma to a better mode of husbandry. 
During the year 1865 one-third more ground had been 
sown with grain in Sonoma than was ever sown before, 
and the yield would probably be immense. The farmers 
in this section frequently continue their sowing as late 
as the middle of April. If the spring rains are pro- 
longed to the end of that month — and it is seldom 
they fall later — these late- sown crops often turn out 
well ; but thev are hazardous. 



174 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

The town of Petaluma, containing about two thou- 
sand inhabitants, is the largest in Sonoma county. 
Steamboats ply daily between that town and San 
Francisco. A railroad through the county is projected, 
to start from a place called Lakeville Landing, at which 
the Petaluma boat calls daily. 

The railway is to continue to Healdsburg, the 
second town of importance in Sonoma county. It is 
situated in Russian River Valley, and contains at present 
only about a hundred dwellings, and seven hundred 
inhabitants. The country around Healdsburg is beauti- 
ful and park-like in its scenery. Indeed, the whole of 
Sonoma county is remarkable for rural beauty. The 
richness of the land, particularly towards Healdsburg, 
and the salubrity and mildness of its climate, render 
it most beneficial to invalids, and a delightful contrast 
to the fogs and winds of San Francisco, to say nothing 
of its mineral springs, or the famous " Geysers." 
The houses in Healdsburg are nearly all built of red- 
wood, with which the neighbouring mountains abound. 
They are plain, but comfortable. The inhabitants lead 
an easy, but somewhat listless life, as I judge from the 
assurance made me by an individual there who was 
desirous of purchasing some timber for building, and 
who declared that, in spite of the redwood forests close 
by, and the numerous saw-mills in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the town, he had the utmost difficulty 
in procuring shingles (pieces of wood the size of 
slates) to roof his dwelling. 

The settlers in Russian Eiver Yalley are mainly 
emigrants from the Southern or Mississippi Slave 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 175 

States, and retain the improvident and idle habits of 
that region of slave-holders, natural to men who 
employ others to keep themselves idle. Settled in 
one of the best grazing as well as agricultural districts 
in California, they are often pinched for the neces- 
saries, assuredly for the comforts, of life, and rarely 
possess the luxuries of English farm-houses, or of 
American farm-houses in the Northern States else- 
where. With fine herds of cattle and excellent 
pasture land, they are often without butter and cheese. 
They miss their old slaves. Vegetables of every 
description grow almost spontaneously, and yet they 
are seldom seen on the table. The people live chiefly 
on pork and hominy, the latter being a preparation 
of Indian corn. Green corn, properly cooked, is one 
of the most delicious of vegetables. The cob is picked 
while green, divested of its swathing of leaves and 
tassels, broken in half, and simply boiled till the grain 
softens ; this it will do perhaps in fifteen minutes. It 
is then sent to the table, buttered, pej^pered, salted, 
and eaten, of course, hot. It must be taken in the 
fingers, and the grain, on which the butter has been 
spread as on bread, must be nibbled off mouse-fashion, 
as the succulent matter would be lost and the flavour 
spoiled by attempting to scrape it off the cob with the 
knife. Considerable dexterity is requisite to accom- 
plish this feat elegantly and yet successfully. To 
quote one who is worthy of being quoted on few other 
subjects, "It is not so much the picking a bone 
which is obnoxious to refined taste as the style in 
which it is picked." If a first-rate gentleman in 



176 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

Europe admitted the possibility of picking a bone 
gracefully, I may be excused for asserting that it is 
possible to eat green corn in the same mode. 

" Succotash " is a dish which I never eat in Eng- 
land. For the benefit of those of my fair readers who, 
with Lady Mary "Wortley Montague, believe that the 
fact of working to please those we love beautifies even 
a menial employment, I give the following recipe for 
its preparation. Schools of cookery, however, are 
happily becoming the fashion, so I might have waived 
any apology for introducing the subject. Succotash 
is an Indian dish. Green corn is scraped into a dish 
with sliced French beans and white haricot beans, 
the latter having been previously parboiled ; the whole 
is stewed in milk, which, when nearly ready, is de- 
licately thickened with flour and a bit of butter the 
size of a large walnut. Pepper and salt are put in at 
an early stage of the process. 

Hominy is a preparation of Indian corn, — how pre- 
pared for sale I do not know. It is boiled like rice, 
and eaten either as a vegetable or with syrup. 

The swine of Sonoma are almost the only corn-fed 
pigs in California. This accounts for the superiority 
of their flavour over the pork of other counties, which 
is miserable eating, being fed chiefly on slops and offal. 

A railway, connecting this fine agricultural region 
with the Bay of San Francisco, is wanting. It would 
facilitate the transmission of its vegetable produce to the 
best markets. In winter the roads of Sonoma are in a 
bad condition, being all but impassable. The heavy 
rains create deep mud, and convert the roads into 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 177 

sloughs. The rivers, shallow and peaceful in summer, 
become swift torrents, rushing to the sea, high and 
difficult to cross, in many cases sweeping away the few 
bridges erected. 

At Point Arenas, fifty miles north-west of Healds- 
burg, and at Mattole river, forty miles south of Hum- 
boldt Bay, petroleum deposits have been discovered, the 
latter especially of a purer quality than elsewhere in 
the State. It is expected in California that petroleum 
and railroad manias will succeed the late mining ex- 
citement. 

The curse of California has been its land titles ; 
grants of land under the old Spanish rule having 
occasionally invalidated others, and originated — par- 
ticularly in cases where large tracts of land were in 
litigation — an endless amount of vexation. One of 
these disputed Spanish grants extends over the entire 
vicinity of Healdsburg. At one time the settlers 
became so exasperated that it was necessary to call 
out the soldiery to preserve order. Cases have oc- 
curred in which peaceful and industrious settlers in 
California have again and again been compelled to 
purchase titles to property, after which, perhaps, a new 
claimant has arisen, professing a legal claim of anterior 
date, and the heart-broken settlers have been obliged 
to pay every cent of the hard earnings of years, or go 
forth ruined from their prosperous farms. It is no 
wonder that the people became exasperated at the bur- 
lesque of law which proved so ineffectual for the pro- 
tection of honest industry. I was introduced one day 
to a mild-looking woman, who, with evident and 

N 



178 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

pardonable pride, showed me over a prosperous home- 
stead and its flourishing acres, which owed their con- 
dition to her own and her husband's toil for the best 
part of a lifetime. "You would not guess," said a 
friend to me subsequently, " of what that mild-looking 
little woman has proved capable/ ' 

" Undoubtedly," I replied, " of indefatigable perse- 
verance." 

" Considerably more than that," was the rejoinder. 

" How ? " I inquired. " Of what ? " 

" Simply of murder/' was the calm reply. My 
friend continued : "It w r as a case of great provocation. 
The land upon which they settled, with the under- 
standing that in so many years they were to become 
purchasers, fell into litigation. They purchased the 
title to their portion under the advice of judges between 
the rival claimants. Shortly after an earlier claim to 
the land, under an old Spanish grant, was admitted. 
Once more they paid the price of their beloved home- 
stead, and once more the whole district was claimed by 
one of the ubiquitous land-grabbers. His claim was 
so far judged good that the sheriff was empowered to 
enter and take possession of various dwellings. The 
husband of that little woman, a meek- spirited man, 
was for resigning the homestead. Money they had 
none left ; their famity was large, and would be home- 
less. ' Do as you please/ said the wife. • Whoever 
attempts to turn us out shall rue the attempt.' The 
sheriff and his posse appeared. The neighbourhood 
were almost in arms, and he was warned that they 
would resort to desperate measures. Nothing daunted, 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 179 

he proceeded, poor fellow, in the discharge of his duty. 
The first step he made into the doorway of our friend's 
sitting-room he fell mortally wounded by the discharge 
of a gun. The room had been crowded with the friends 
of the rcmchero, or farmer. It was perhaps purposely 
somewhat darkened, and the upshot was that no one 
could or would tell whose hands had held the gun. It 
was shrewdly surmised among the settlers, however, 
that yonder gentle-looking little woman could have 
solved the mystery, from which, in consequence of the 
occurrence of other and more exciting events, public 
attention was shortly diverted. I forget whether the 
title is in abeyance still, or whether it was purchased a 
third time." 

The coast range on either side the town of Healds- 
burg is rugged and imposing in appearance. Mount 
St. Helen's, twelve miles east, rises to the height of 
three thousand seven hundred feet. Other peaks near 
are scarcely less lofty. In the neighbourhood are fine 
veins of quicksilver. To the northward, again, beyond 
Sonoma is Del iSTorte county, chiefly noted for its veins 
of copper. In one mine of the rockland district in 
this region, called the Cruikshank vein, the lodes are 
all in slate (in which only, some scientific men say, 
copper exists). It shows more or less on the surface. 
In the immediate vicinity of this vein are copper, 
quartz, and talcose granite, — all, I believe, considered 
to indicate the existence of a superior mineral region. 
The rock known in Cornwall as serpentine abounds in 
Del Norte. 



i8o FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER XI. 

COMMERCE — PANAMA CITY — FREE TRADE WITH NEW SOUTH WALES AND 
WITH CHINA — RUSSO -AMERICAN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH — CONDITION OE 
SAN FRANCISCO — POPULATION — STATISTICAL PARALLELS OP MURDERS 
COMMITTED IN THE PREE AND SLAVE STATES — MONEY-MAKING — 

GARDEN PRODUCE MARKET PRICES RATES OP SALARIES AND WAGES 

HOUSE RENT — TAXATION — CURRENCY IRISH VOTES POR M'CLELLAN 

THE U NEW HUMAN CONGLOMERATE." 

It is impossible for any dispassionate person to cast 
his eyes over a chart of the great Pacific, and not to 
perceive that the port of San Francisco will prove the 
great commercial depot of that vast ocean. Yictoria 
lying to the northward, and therefore some hundreds 
of miles less accessible, will be its only rival. As to the 
Spanish, or rather the old colonial Spanish ports from 
Mexico to Cape Horn, they are unlikely to prove for- 
midable rivals either to the one or the other, when the 
character of their population is considered. There is 
another reason why the ports of South America will 
not be likely to rival the North, and that is the rail- 
roads, for these before long will connect the extreme 
Western States of the Union with the great rivers on 
the east, and the ramification of the railroads on their 
banks already extending in every direction in that 
part of the United States. The territory of British 
Columbia, too, will no doubt ultimately have its railway 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 181 

to Canada. Cape Horn will then only be rounded by- 
vessels with cargoes of heavy and dead merchandise. The 
Northern coast will be the deposit of all the goods from 
Europe that both railway and shipping will convey. 
The isthmus of Panama would seem to be the station 
for a great entrepot of commerce, when glancing at a 
map, if merely on account of its apparent convenience. 
Geographically, it is well adapted for the grand com- 
mercial depot of the Pacific, but to this place there are 
insurmountable obstacles. It cannot furnish sufficient 
productions of its own for exchange ; it is situated in a 
deadly climate ; and its inhabitants are a race totally 
.destitute of the enterprise of the nations of Anglo- 
Saxon blood. The general impression has been that 
San Francisco will export only the precious metals of 
its own and neighbouring States. This is an error. 
Situated in a latitude happily between the extremes of 
heat and cold ; possessing a vast extent of fertile soil at 
but a short distance from the ocean, a soil where the 
rich minerals are scarcest (for these abound most in 
ground unfitted to the purposes of agriculture, a subject 
already noticed) ; possessing, in addition, great fecundity, 
time sufficient to establish the cultivation of the land 
is all that is necessary to insure great remunerative 
agricultural returns. The efforts of an increasing 
population have heretofore been directed to the ac- 
cumulation of searchers for precious metals. Even- 
tually these chance gains will be less valued than the 
certain, but smaller profits of the less laborious pursuit 
of agriculture. It is a common practice with those 
who must, to a certain extent, be short-sighted, to 



182 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

grumble at the large importations of foreign manu- 
factures into San Francisco, and unceasingly to demand 
the exclusive consumption by Californians of the pro- 
ductions of native industry. In view of the surpass- 
ingly beneficial effects of free trade upon the wealth 
of other countries^ these arguments have no foundation 
in fact, and are worthless in consequence. Some, 
equally wrong, complain of the influx of emigration. 
It is truly to be regretted that so few agriculturists are 
among the number of emigrants, or at least that so few 
betake themselves to the occupation of farming ; but the 
very increase of population which is deplored will 
inevitably tend to force the cultivation of the land at 
low rates, and to induce settlers rather to seek compe- 
tence by the soundest of all pursuits than chance 
fortunes by the ruin of health and the waste of toil 
constantly attendant upon mining, where, for one who 
wins, two lose. The sanguine and impatient may build 
chateaux en Espagne, and find their dreams end in dis- 
appointment, if relying upon chance ; but to live 
without excessive labour is all the mass anywhere can 
hope to do. Dreams may at present be more frequent 
and deceptive than ever. This is not wonderful. Who- 
ever contemplates the probable future of the Union and 
the gigantic efforts it so lately made to quell a formid- 
able rebellion undertaken in behalf of the permanent 
establishment of a slave empire, will acknowledge that 
if the indulgence of an idle vision or two regarding that 
future be a little premature or boastful, those visions 
are based on inferences drawn from rational grounds, 
and not from the images of a distempered fancy. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 183 

No free communication for productions of the State 
with the interior can be opened to any great extent 
until the rapidly increasing population is induced to 
betake itself largely to agriculture. The great capa- 
bilities of the country in this respect are not yet half 
developed. It is said that opium can be easily pro- 
duced, and that labour alone is wanting for that 
purpose. The cochineal insect can be multiplied for 
export. It affords also, in addition to its other vast re- 
sources, a field for the production of raw silk. The limit 
to the exports of such a country is not easily surmised. 
It can be only for a time that even the precious metals 
can overshadow its other great natural advantages. 

The first step to be taken towards its progress is the 
construction of the contemplated " Pacific Railroad," 
which will facilitate communication not merely with 
the Eastern States, but, by affording an easy transit to 
the interior counties of the State itself, be the means of 
fixing agriculturists on suitable lands. This railway is 
at present actually in process of construction. The 
electric telegraph already speaks from San Francisco 
to New York. 

Commerce between San Francisco and New South 
Wales has long since commenced ; it is principally 
carried on by exchange for coal. English coal sent by 
way of Cape Horn brings eight pounds sterling per ton 
in San Francisco, as before stated. Coals are sent there 
from Oregon. English coal is chiefly employed for 
purposes where inferior coals are not suitable. Petro- 
leum of good quality has also been recently discovered 
in Santa Barbara. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



With China, Japan, and the Philippines — in fact, with 
all the trading Asiatic islands — there is a wide field for 
commerce. Quicksilver finds a ready sale at Hong 
Kong, and flour is sent to the Chinese ports. The 
return cargoes from China are often passengers of that 
industrious race, with their tea, sugar, rice, and similar 
commodities. 

From Manilla cordage, coffee, sugar, molasses, hemp, 
and other articles are sent. San Diego supplies oranges, 
oil, tallow, hides, wool, and live cattle. The passage 
to Hong Kong occupies from sixty to eighty days. The 
parent States supply almost every kind of merchandise 
in exchange for the precious metals. From New York, 
per sailing vessels, the voyage is often prolonged to a 
hundred and forty days and more. From Newcastle, 
England, the passage has been made in the same time. 
The communication with Victoria, distant about eight 
hundred miles, is continual. From San Francisco to 
Cape Horn is six thousand three hundred and thirty 
miles. From San Francisco to Panama is. three thousand 
one hundred and fifty, and from thence to England 
four thousand five hundred and fifty. Total from 
England, via the West Indies, seven thousand six 
hundred and fifty miles. By way of New York, the 
cheaper but the farther sea-route to California, the 
distance from England to San Francisco is eight thou- 
sand six hundred and fifty miles. 

The efforts generally made by Americans to extend 
their communications were in some degree retarded by 
the disarrangements caused through the war. The 
enormous cost thus incurred must necessarily diminish 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 185 

every means of improvement, but the American people 
have shown themselves well aware of the importance of 
the subject by their previous activity and spirit respect- 
ing it. It cannot be expected for ages to come that a 
railway can be constructed in the North of Asia across 
the frozen deserts of Siberia. The want of population, and 
of produce for traffic in such a waste, will postpone such 
a work even at the latitude of 60°, which is about that 
of St. Petersburg. It is different with the electric 
telegraph, which is in process of construction from San 
Francisco to St. Petersburg, via the Aleutian Islands. 
The telegraph from San Francisco to New York has 
long since been constructed. 

At first the city of San Francisco, founded by ad- 
venturers and men of all classes and countries, who 
were drawn there by the mines, was a disorderly scene 
without moral character. The miners in the country 
robbed each other, and murders were common. All 
this, except robberies occasionally practised upon miners 
up the country by the abandoned of the same class, is 
quite changed. The city of San Francisco to-day, as 
already observed, is one of the most quiet and orderly 
in the world. Murders in country districts are still 
somewhat more frequent than in other " Free States" of 
the Union in proportion to the population, but not 
equal to those which took place in general in the 
Southern Atlantic Slave States, where the bowie-knife 
and the revolver were the slave-owners' appendages, and 
too often held to be the first and last of their argu- 
ments. There is no doubt that the Vigilance Committee, 
followed by the regular action of the law courts, placed 



1 86 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the State on an equal footing with other Free States, 
and restored some character even to the lawless miners. 
The population in 1851 was 350,000. In that year 
there were sixty-five murders. The Slave State of 
Texas, with 500,000, returned but fifty. The Free 
State of Wisconsin, with a population of 552,109, 
returned but eight ! New York, with 3,470,059 popu- 
lation, returned but seventy-four. Pennsylvania, with 
2,542,960, returned twenty- eight. The total number 
in one year in the whole of the sixteen Free States, with 
15,887,399 of white population, was returned at 302. 
The fifteen Slave States, with a population of 7,593,413 
whites, returned 380 ! It is presumed that slaves 
executed for murder would be few indeed, while the 
murder of a slave by a white man would be no more 
than manslaughter. The slaves, therefore (3,200,304), 
are omitted, and the whites in the South and North 
placed against each other. The parallels are striking : 
thus, in Massachusetts (Free) there were 1,133,123 
population, and nineteen murders ; in Kentucky (Slave 
State), 1,086,587, and forty-six murders. In Cali- 
fornia the gambling of the miners and the quarrels 
and disgraceful scenes of the country districts in the 
early colonisation of the State have passed away, and 
like the capital in the early days of its settlement, the 
comparison with the past is most favourable. San 
Francisco itself, with its fine public buildings, its 
ecclesiastical edifices, and places of business, enjoying 
perfect tranquillity, seems as if changed by enchant- 
ment. 

The mental direction of the population is towards 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 187 

the art of making the most money in the least time, 
which has a tendency to induce less honour in business 
dealings generally than is customary in many other 
places, — so I learned by the general tone of conversa- 
tion among its citizens, who are prone to declare that 
in business affairs they would almost doubt the honesty 
of an angel who should so far mistake his road as to 
alight in California. For my part I believe human 
nature to be much the same everywhere, save that 
custom, rather than religion or honour, rules with a 
more iron hand in some parts of the world than in 
others. The English have been termed, with the 
intention of deriding them, " a nation of shopkeepers." 
If this be an opprobrious epithet, which is more than 
questionable, it must apply with even greater stringency 
to the American branch of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
the very aristocracy of whose chief towns — " Fifth 
Avenue" aristocracy in New York, to wit — is largely 
composed of those who owe their position in life to 
success in trade. John Bull's retort upon his Gallic 
derider was, " that sell what they might, they would 
never sell the island." Whatever selfishness may 
commonly be engendered by undue devotion to money- 
getting, San Franciscans can never be accused of want 
of generosity. Every energy is directed by them to that 
end, it is true ; the wonder is, how cosmopolitan the 
faculty appears. Admitting the penchant of John Bull 
and Brother Jonathan that way, it is surprising to 
observe that the appetite of Dutch, German, Swede, 
ay, and of Johnny Crapaud himself, is no way dis- 
tinguishable in this respect from the English and 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



American element in California. The Dutch or 
Germans monopolise the trades of baker and grocer 
almost exclusively. The Hebrew nation there, as else- 
where, deals largely in articles of masculine clothing. 
Altogether there is no decided evidence to prove the 
overweening love of either John Bull or Jonathan for 
" shopkeeping :" au contraire. The learned professions, 
gravely excepting, of course, the Chinese doctors 
before mentioned, are chiefly recruited from the ranks 
of those two celebrated cousins. The generosity of 
Californians has been alluded to. Money at one time 
was easily made, and that consequent rapid acquire- 
ment of wealth might in a measure have lessened its 
value sufficiently to account for the generous things 
frequently rendered in the way of assistance by one 
individual to another. If a case of destitution occurs, 
its mention in the public prints is enough to insure 
assistance sufficient to place the suffering party above 
want. Perhaps this may be a consequence of the 
rapid acquirement of wealth, the ordinary labour of its 
attainment, when very great, naturally enhancing its 
value. It is incredible what sums of money are made 
and lost unconnected with the chances of' gold- 
hunting. The early purchasers of land on specula- 
tion made enormous profits. For its age, the character 
of many of its edifices, its extent, and population, 
render the rise of the city a marvel in the history of 
nations. This port of Drake's New Albion promises 
to be the New York of the Pacific. The return of 
intestine peace and the wonderful activity of the 
people — a phenomenon among empires — will soon 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



realise that more mature State which nations under 
despotic rule cannot regard without the envy that, 
in its reaction, is injurious only to despotism itself, 
just as the enyy of the prosperity of England in regard 
to her American colonies reacted upon France, and 
accelerated the revolution that shook all the absolute 
sovereignties of Europe, and dissipated the unworthy 
dream of kings ruling through divine, in place of 
popular right; to which last form of government all 
the civilised, or, in other words, the more enlightened 
nations of the world are tending. 

The garden produce of the vicinity of San Francisco 
in necessaries for the table is plentiful. Onions vary 
from Id. to 5d. per lb. ; cabbages and cauliflowers 
6d. apiece ; carrots and turnips 6cL a bunch ; peas 
and French beans 6d. per quart ; artichokes 6d. to 
lOd. ; pumpkins 6d., and tomatoes 3d. per lb. ; peaches, 
the half-bushel basket, from 4s. to 6s. The markets, 
as before stated, are well supplied with fruit and 
vegetables all the year round. That fruit so 
neglected in England, the common blackberry, brings 
sometimes Is. 3d. per lb. Raspberries and straw- 
berries from 6d. to Is. 6d. in the season. Cranberries 
are much used for pies, and sell at from 6d. to Is. 
per lb. Rhubarb brings about Is. ; plums and cherries 
double and treble that sum. Oranges are often to be 
had for 2s. a dozen ; apples from 6d. to a couple of 
shillings, and even more, per dozen. The finest pears 
sometimes sell for 6d. each, sometimes for much 
more ; inferior qualities are cheaper. A head of 
lettuce or a bunch of radishes or watercresses is 



190 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

worth 2\d. It must be recollected that in many cases 
a dollar will go a very little farther than a shilling in 
England. Many articles are greatly above London 
prices. Wages are proportionate. Venison and 
tolerable beef bring lOd. per lb. The cost of beef 
fattened expressly for Christmas reaches the extrava- 
gant price of 4s. 2d. per lb. Pork, mutton, veal, 
and lamb range from 6d. to Is. ; ducks and fowls 
from 4s. to 6s. per pair ; turkeys and geese sell at 
2s. 6d. per lb. Wild geese fetch only 2s. or 3s. 
apiece, and wild ducks are worth Is. or Is. 6d. a pair. 
Salmon and sturgeon, in the height of the season, 
are as low as 6d. per lb., and superb they both are 
for size. Earlier they are worth 2s. per lb. Oysters 
are 2s. a dozen ; lobsters and crabs Is. each ; soles 
10c/. per lb. ; quails 3s. per dozen. 

In regard to groceries, flour ranges from 6s. to 10s. 
per half cwt., and Indian meal 6s. to 8s. Bice 6d. ; 
sugar 7d. to Sd. ; tea 4s. to 6s. per lb. ; coffee Is. 8d> ; 
raisins Is. ; and dried currants Is. 3d. per lb. These 
prices appear high, but it is necessary in considering 
them, and also the high price of clothing, to remember 
that wages are in proportion. For example, book-, 
keepers receive from £15 to £30 per month ; clerks 
from £10 to £20 ; and salesmen from £10 to £40 per 
month. Bar-keepers receive from £8 to £15 ; men- 
cooks from £10 to £14, and women- cooks from £6 to 
£7 per month ; housemaids get from £3 to £6, and 
nursemaids from £3 to £5. 

Then, as to mechanics' wages per day, blacksmiths 
earn from 16s. to 20s., and their assistants, called 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 191 

" strikers," from 8s. to 12s. per day ; bricklayers, from 
12s. to 20s. ; cabinet-makers the same ; carpenters, 8s. 
to 20s. ; glaziers and painters can earn about the same. 
Stone-cutters make from 12s. to £1 a day ; printers, 
from £1 to 30s. Labourers earn from 8s. to 10s. a 
day, and washerwomen or charwomen about the same. 
Draymen (including their teams) get from 30s. to 35s. 
daily. It must be understood, however, that the 
highest prices named above are only commanded by 
the very best quality of labour in the various employ- 
ments. 

It may be seen that whereas in linen- drapery, house 
rent, and many other necessaries, the dollar goes but 
little further than the shilling, a labourer who earns 
two dollars and a half a day is quite as well off at 
half- a- crown in London. House rent is very high : 
for a moderate- sized eight- roomed frame house £8 
and £9 per month are considered reasonable. Brick 
houses of similar size are worth £10 and £12 ; and 
when the risk of fire to frame houses is taken into 
consideration, rents will be seen to be an alarming 
item in the expenses of working men. 

The legal rate of interest is as high as ten per cent, 
per month in California ; the common rate is two and 
a half per cent, per month. Higher interest is often 
given, but is not recoverable by law. The exports 
from the home districts and from Oregon are gene- 
rally large. Thus from January up to July, 1865, 
that of treasure alone to England, JSTew York, and 
Panama was 22,000,000 of dollars ; a falling off, how- 
ever, of 7, 00 0, 000 compared with the same space of 



192 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

time in 1864. The custom-house receipts for the 
first six months of 1865 were 3,346,936 dollars; in 
the same year the population of San Francisco alone 
is 112,700. In 1849 the whole State had a population 
of but 91,635, on a territory of 155,480 square miles ; 
of that population but 962 were people of colour. In 
1855 the exports had reached in value to 8,244,066, 
the imports to 5,951,379 dollars. The value of real 
estate in 1850, added to the personal, only reached 
21,923,173 dollars. The State debt in 1855 was 
1,812,502 dollars. The rate of taxation in California 
for the year 1864 was 2*90 dollars per cent, higher than 
that of any preceding year since 1860. The assessed 
value of real estate in San Francisco for that year was 
47,292,903 dollars, and the personal property assessed 
amounted to 33,443,262. The city's revenue for taxes 
and licenses for the same year was 925,724 dollars ; 
its expenditure, 785,894 dollars ; and its bonded debt, 
4,413,384 dollars. Taxation, previously very light, 
has weighed heavily even on California since the war. 
Each male inhabitant over twenty-one pays a State 
poll tax, a military poll tax, and I think a city poll 
tax of 8s. per annum besides. 

It is not easy to discover yet what effect the late 
war has had upon this State in retarding its progress. 
A great stagnation is complained of by Californians 
in all pursuits. It was, however, happily beyond 
reach of active warfare ; and the pressure of financial 
measures was not so severely felt there as elsewhere, 
partly on account of the attention paid by Government 
to the plea of the people that, inasmuch as California 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 193 

was the grand fountain-head of American gold, it was 
unjust to deprive her of the benefit of a gold currency, 
and so, by crippling her energies, cut off in a great 
measure the supply of that metal from her borders. 
It was partly, too, perhaps by the passage in the 
Californian legislature of the Specific Contract Bill, by 
which any one so contracting was compelled to pay in 
gold coin. Legal tenders or greenbacks were conse- 
quently seldom exchanged at their fair value, and, 
indeed, were but rarely used at all, — never in notes of 
less than five dollars' value, unless at the post or other 
public offices. 

In regard to the political feeling of Californians 
during that remarkable conflict of " earth's adverse 
principles, " the great mass of the inhabitants went 
heart and soul with the Union ; nor was it easy to 
perceive any inclination on their part to sever them- 
selves, under any circumstances, by declaring their 
own independence. The scheme of a Pacific Republic 
was indeed mooted, but indignantly scouted by the 
great mass of the population. The reports set on foot 
by parties interested in a different state of things from 
those in actual existence must be taken for what 
they are worth. The element which has proved so 
annoying to England, which it never ceases to de- 
nounce as the land of tyranny — that is to say, the 
" Irish" element — promises to become almost as prolific 
a source of trouble and uneasiness to the very country 
that has sheltered and fostered it. The great ma- 
jority of Irish votes in California during the late 
presidential campaign were cast, not for Lincoln, the 

o 



194 EIVE YEARS WITHIN 

apostle of liberty, but for M'Clellan, the Copper- 
head or Democratic candidate. Forgetting their long 
and vehemently-expressed devotion to liberal prin- 
ciples, oblivious of gratitude, of honour — of every- 
thing, in short, but the clannish " Mac " before their 
favoured candidate's name — they rushed, with few 
exceptions, to the polling-places, and with their ballots 
inscribed their own infamy upon the records of the 
land which had adopted and nurtured them. 

America was, not without cause, irritated at the 
course of the moneyed interest among her British 
cousins during the late struggle ; but it must be 
acknowledged by all right-minded and conscientious 
Americans that the course of their own Government 
in permitting, and of their press in actually encourag- 
ing, the public organisation of armed bodies in their 
midst for the avowed purpose of waging war upon 
England, is hardly calculated to make her regret the 
style of the late " British neutrality." She might 
possibly feel somewhat more sore than she appears to 
do in this matter, were it not that the conduct of these 
same " Fenians,"* during the political campaign which 
resulted in the triumphant re-election of President 
Lincoln, was such as strongly to suggest that they are 
likely to prove quite as perplexing to the nation which 
fosters them as to the people they avowedly hate. 
" Better is an open enemy than a deceitful friend." 
It is to be hoped that England and the United States* 
however, will find some worthier object about which to 

* Or " Phenians," a fabulous name, taken under the ridiculous as- 
sumption that Ireland was peopled from Phoenicia ! 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 195 

differ than about a class of men whose excesses their own 
clergy do not seek to palliate. If the efforts of such 
men as the lamented Archbishop Hughes and others 
had had their due influence on the minds of their 
followers, we should hear less of the absurdities of 
" Fenianism." What, however, is to be judged of men 
on whom neither the denunciations of the clergy 
they profess to respect, in regard to secret societies 
and conspiracies, nor the demands of gratitude and 
liberty on their part towards America herself, have had 
any effect ? Admitting that there are evils in British 
rule in Ireland of which Irishmen have a right to 
complain, let me ask, what was the tyranny of Lincoln 
towards them, that they should oppose him with equal 
pertinacity ? Do they want one kind of freedom for 
Ireland and another for America ? It is also worthy 
the consideration of the American Government that 
while the majority of North- of- Ireland men in America 
voted for Lincoln, hardly a North- of- Ireland Catholic 
can be found who talks of secret societies to redress the 
grievances of Ireland. They know, and Archbishop 
Hughes knew, that earnest and conscientious efforts, 
rightly and legally directed, would be far more effica- 
cious. 

Here I must terminate my narrative. I do not 
know that I can do better, on taking leave of Cali- 
fornia, than by quoting from a leading article in that 
ably-edited paper, the San Francisco Mercury, on the 
subject of the advantages possessed by the race colo- 
nised on the shores of the far Pacific, consequent upon 
its being a " conglomeration " of every superior human 



196 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

race. There, side by side in the battle of life, are the 
ever-dominant Anglo-Saxon, the lively Gaul, the heroic 
Swiss, the " uncharacterisable " Hibernian, the shrewd 
Scotchman, the phlegmatic yet persevering Teuton, the 
proud Spaniard, and the hardy Dane ; not, as in London, 
overwhelmed by the superior numbers of one govern- 
ing race, but boasting of sufficient members of either 
nationality to secure an influence in the legislature of 
the State, to say nothing of the emancipated Sambos 
and China " Johns," by way of an under-current in social 
life, which the editor denominates the " new human 
conglomerate : " — 

" It seems almost incredible that, in the very face 
of all the age's tendencies, certain of our adopted 
citizens persist in the agitation of measures calcu- 
lated to promote the perpetuation of national pre- 
judices — a proceeding which can only have the effect 
of damaging their interests as members of a social system 
the benefits of which all are destined to share in com- 
mon. The whole bent of the times is towards the in- 
termixture of the civilised and enlightened races into 
one great universal brotherhood, speaking a common 
language, and bound together by a common tie of 
Christian interest ; and California, with its inducements 
to immigration and its liberal laws, may be the very 
spot where this human mosaic is destined to fuse and 
come together. There is a prospect, becoming gradually 
more and more distinct as the world draws near its 
prime, that all mankind are to ' conglomerate ' into 
an immense overpowering Anglo-American nationality, 
having its throne of central authority in the United 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 197 

States, and its main outposts on the hitherward shores 
of the Pacific, about which time ' the lion and the 
lamb ' will doubtless lie down together, both too much 
' used up ' to fight it out any longer. The numerous 
improvements in public conveyances are converting the 
human family into wanderers ; distinctions of country 
are abolished; homes are almost unknown; the ' peoples/ 
as Kossuth would express it, are losing their indi- 
vidualities and becoming mixed. "We were once ex- 
ceedingly interested in the proceedings of a colony of 
insects which had found a home, through the good 
offices of the winds, in the bottom of an open tin canister, 
the greased sides of which prevented their enlarging 
to any extent the sphere of their usefulness. There 
they were, working away at their natural pursuits with 
utmost diligence, without a thought of trespassing be- 
yond the limits of their little domain, which had been 
theirs for ever so many centuries of minutes. But, 
even as we looked, a passing breeze threw a great beam 
of a straw into the can, with one end resting upon the 
edge. In less time than may be imagined the indus- 
trious workers were making use of the bridge thus 
erected for them, and had sprawled over the adjacent 
flower-beds in every direction. Formerly, men and 
women clung contentedly to those portions of the earth 
which Providence had assigned to them; but steam 
and electricity are accomplishing for them what the 
straw did for the insects, and they are rapidly forsaking 
their old localities, to meet at last in a land where their 
interests and sympathies will unite and merge in the 
bonds of a common fraternity. California has effected 



198 • FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

all this wondrous change ; she smote the shackles from 
the wrists of the white slave in whose breast the oppres- 
sions of unjust rulers had nearly extinguished the 
sentiment of freedom, and has given them, in place of 
pauperism, prosperity and ease." 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 199 



CHAPTER XII. 

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS — EMBARKATION FOR ENGLAND. 

A visit to England, via Panama and New York, in three 
embarkations will, perhaps, furnish a sketch of some 
little interest beyond an outward-bound one in an 
English ship. I must entreat the reader to excuse my 
want of ability to delineate better the characters or 
occurrences I may attempt to describe. I referred to 
my return voyage at setting out as the reason for not 
entering into any particulars about that by which I 
reached the American continent, which presented 
nothing out of the common trips of a like character, and 
only a few passengers not meriting particular notice. 
Then, too, I was not seawoman enough to observe others, 
while my case was rendered very selfish by the usual 
disagreeables of a primary sea voyage. 

Early in the spring (1865) I bade a temporary adieu 
to the many kind friends I number in the Golden State, 
and booking myself as passenger on the newest steamer 
of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's line, rapidly 
left the city of San Francisco behind. It was impos- 
sible to quit those genial shores, where I had found so 
many warm-hearted and, as I trust, life-long friends, 
with their genuine hospitality and good -nature, with- 
out sincere regret, even though the departure were to 



200 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

be but for a time ; and my eyes filled with tears as I 
reflected on the uncertainty of all sublunary things, on 
the short-sightedness of mortality, and the possibility 
that fate might destine me never again to revisit a 
country which had been the scene of many happy hours, 
albeit mingled, as all of life must be, with a due pro- 
portion of gloom and sadness. 

I have before described the Golden Gate, the entrance 
to the noble bay of San Francisco, after emerging 
from which into the open Pacific, our stately steamer 
bent her course southward, passing so near to the Cliff 
House, before spoken of, that we could distinguish the 
faces of friends clustered on its piazza, who had driven 
over from the city for the purpose of waving us a final 
adieu. The breakers, as before stated, here swell and 
break angrily upon the rocks ; and after the Cliff House 
faded from sight,' I believe no excitement remained 
of sufficient power to keep the passengers from their 
berths, to which many had beat a very hasty retreat 
even in the course of our progress through the harbour. 
I would gladly draw the veil of oblivion, if I could, 
over the next three days ; but impotent to do that, my 
readers shall be mercifully spared the infliction of any 
attempt to do justice to the subject ; their imaginations 
will be sufficiently active to delineate it. 

Our commander, I was informed, was an Englishman 
by birth, and son of an admiral of the British navy. 
Expressing my surprise that the son of a British naval 
officer of such high rank, certainly able to have secured 
promotion in the service to his children, should prefer 
the command of an American passenger vessel, I was 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 201 

met with a smile and the characteristic remark, " Oh, 
he does very handsomely here ; his pay is not less than 
fourteen thousand dollars per annum." I was told he 
was deservedly a favourite with the owners of that line 
of steamers for his devotion to duty and valuable 
qualities as a seaman, while he was no less highly re- 
garded by those who served under him. It was to be 
regretted, as the captain of a passenger vessel, that he 
still retained a certain hauteur which, it was signifi- 
cantly remarked by some American gentlemen on board, 
savoured strongly of his " English origin." Now, 
against this proposition I beg leave to enter a decided 
protest, having observed that English naval officers are 
generally remarkable for genial urbanity of bearing, 
which I cannot say of those of the army. On board a 
ship- of- war, too, a strict conduct, from the nature of 
the duty, becomes habitual ; and often habit is mistaken 
by strangers for hauteur, from which they are here 
proverbially free. Any individual, on the other hand, 
who mistakes assumed hauteur for real dignity com- 
patible with urbanity of manner, can know little of the 
world, the experience of which teaches that dignity, 
hauteur, or any other virtue or vice, is by no means 
a criterion of any nationality. This reminds me of the 
remark of a gentleman to some near neighbours of mine, 
at the table of this same vessel, relative to English 
ladies. In allusion to the English aristocracy, as he 
judged it, he said : " When I last came to San Erancisco 
there were three English ladies on board, and it was 
amusing to observe the airs they gave themselves. 
They would associate with no one, asserting that there 



■FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



were no ladies on board, although there were seventy- 
five first-cabin lady passengers." I was not acquainted 
with the speaker, but I did long to inform him that 
my experience of English ladies, reserved though they 
may be with strangers, suggested the extreme proba- 
bility that those of whom he spoke were nothing more 
than ladies' -maids returning home, or something of 
that class. I could have enlightened him as to the 
fact that some of the most affable, genial- hearted, and 
admired women on board at that very moment were 
Englishwomen undeniably of the genus " lady." 
Equally as unjust as his judgment of the English was 
that exercised by u gentleman who remarked confi- 
dentially to me, as the result of his morning perambu- 
lation on deck, that he had discovered that all the 
ladies who were usefully and industriously employed 
were women of foreign birth. " If an American woman 
is found doing anything at all here, it is reading a 
novel," said he, derisively. " Indeed," was my reply ; 
" certainly nobody on board has been more industrious 
since we have been at sea than little Miss M." "No 
one," he exclaimed, emphatically. " Allow me, then," 
said I, mischievously enough, " to have the pleasure 
of informing you that she is a native of the State of 
Maine. Ah, my dear sir, do you, who have travelled 
so much, require yet to learn that excellence of any kind 
is the especial property of no one nation beyond another 
— that educated people are much the same all over 
this little world of ours ? " The champion of foreign 
excellence endeavoured to get out of the scrape in a 
good-humoured way. We would not permit an apology. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 203 

Our noble vessel, a steamer of four thousand tons, 
was a model of elegance, neatness, and order. Nothing 
could exceed the cleanliness which everywhere pervaded 
her. The upper deck — reserved, with the exception 
of a small space near the bow, for the exercise of the 
first and second cabin passengers — was entirely covered 
with oil- cloth painted over of a delicate grey colour. 
Two men were posted on this deck occupied all day 
long with brooms, removing rapidly any nutshells, 
fruit-parings, ends of cigars, or fragments of Berlin 
wool or crochet cotton thrown down from time to time 
by the passengers. Numerous spittoons, too, studded 
the length of the splendid deck at intervals. An 
awning, partially extended over it during the earlier 
portion of our voyage, was carried along its whole ex- 
tent as we approached and entered the tropics. There 
were a number of benches for the use of passengers, 
who, however, gave the preference to steamer-chairs, 
provided by themselves ; and the student of comfort 
might have found a subject for fruitful thought in the 
inspection of those with which our fine deck was 
crowded. It was a pleasant time enough for those who 
did not suffer more or less all the voyage from nausea, 
that fortnight in the noble Golden City, on the waters 
of the vast Pacific, which Drake had navigated in a ship 
of a hundred tons in place of one of four thousand. 

The third day from our departure, at about 3 p.m., 
we sighted the company's steamer Constitution on her 
upward trip, bound to San Francisco from Panama. 
She had on board, as we knew, a cargo of passengers 
who had left New York prior to the assassination of 



204 F IV E YEARS WITHIN 

President Lincoln, for whose cruel and deliberate murder 
we had left every house in California draped in mourn- 
ing, and they were consequently ignorant of his death. 
It was quickly circulated among us that the vessels 
would exchange communications. There was imme- 
diately a great stir on board among those desirous of 
sending some word or fragmentary note back to dear 
and anxious hearts left behind in the sunset land. 
Much bustle and hurry occurred to get letters signed, 
sealed, and directed in time for the lowering of the 
boat. It was pitiful, even in that trifling way, to note 
the anxiety depicted on pale faces that had not ceased 
to suffer since they quitted home, and could scarcely 
keep upright while penning the line which was to 
convey comfort to those now far away. There may be 
a vast deal of selfishness in the world — undoubtedly 
there is ; but I question if the unselfishness does not 
about balance it, after all — at least, I hope so. 

Onward came the upward-bound steamer, disdain- 
fully dashing back the water from her black sides in 
long lines of white foam; first cutting through the 
waves with her sharp bows, as if likely to be turned 
from her course by no earthly obstacle, when, lo ! just 
as she was passing us on our larboard bow, a sudden 
roar from the iron mouth of one of our Parr ott- gun 
batteries arrested her graceful progress. Our boat 
was rapidly lowered, passengers excitedly handing 
their letters to the purser as he stepped into her, and 
speedily reached the side of the giant Constitution, of 
four thousand odd hundred tons. The passengers and 
crew were alike astonished at the unusual circumstance. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



205 



It hardly ever occurs that steamers on that line do 
more than interchange signals. All were now waiting 
anxiously to learn the cause of the arrest of movement. 
The first news given to the vessel from the South was 
that of the decisive victories of General Lee, the herald 
of the speedy termination of the war, upon the receipt 
of which a thousand stentorian voices sent a loud cheer 
of triumph back over the wave to us. Their delight 
was succeeded by a groan of horror, as the story of the 
murder of the good President reached their ears. 
Their flag was hastily lowered to half-mast, and our 
boat leaving the side of the Constitution, the spectacle 
of those two majestic vessels floating so peacefully 
upon the bosom of the mighty Pacific waters was 
quickly dispelled by the increase of steam and speed 
which rapidly conveyed them away from each other's 
sight, not without lingering looks until both were 
hull down. The following day the land of Lower 
California was - in sight, — a bold mountainous outline 
in the dim distance. The increasing heat now neces- 
sitated the extension of the awning over the whole 
upper deck. The ladies by this time had pretty 
generally recovered from sea-sickness, discarded their 
warm San Francisco clothing, and appeared in the 
airiest of lawns and the most delicate of muslins. 
There were three very lovely women on board ; — a tall, 
elegant, classical-featured Jewess, the personification 
of my ideal of Sir Walter Scott's noble creation, 
Rebecca, in " Ivanhoe," of whom — alas for the weak- 
ness of human nature ! — subsequent observation of her 
bearing to her husband and family proved that the 



206 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

personification extended in no way to her personal 
character ; the one being the most generous of beings, 
the other a tolerably strong embodiment of selfishness. 
The second lady to whom I refer was a beautiful 
Spanish girl, the sister of an ex- governor of one of the 
provinces of Lower California, with dark, radiant eyes, 
full lips, and a wealth of massy dark curls falling 
unrestrained upon her neck. Indolent, and seemingly 
apathetic as she ordinarily appeared, I recollect being- 
startled from my admiration into a strong conscious- 
ness of her Spanish origin by a stormy scene between 
herself and her maid : the latter was a heavy, clumsy 
specimen of the natives of Lower California, who, poor, 
creature, had enough to do to satisfy the whims of her 
capricious and handsome young mistress. A beauty 
of a very different type was our third belle, a delicate, 
aristocratic blonde, that mingled so happily the charac- 
teristics of the English, American, and Grerman. I 
puzzled my brains for a long time to no avail in 
endeavouring to decide upon her nationality. That 
she was Anglo-Saxon was all of which I felt certain. 
Slightly above the medium height, her figure was 
conspicuous for its grace and elegance. Her abundant 
light brown hair was rolled back from a wide, open 
forehead, sufficiently delicate, with its tracery of blue 
veins, to relieve it from an unfeminine boldness of 
appearance so often the accompaniment of that trying 
style of coiffeur. Her full dark-blue eye beamed with 
intelligence ; her nose, a delicate aquiline, evidence of 
a nature that could be a " Catherine " upon necessity 
and play the shrew. It was somewhat softened by a 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 207 

mouth which expressed some sweetness of disposition. 
It was thus I read her character at first sight, being a 
little of a physiognomist. Subsequent observation 
satisfied me that I had not guessed very far from the 
truth. During the course of our voyage I discovered 
that she was a good linguist, speaking several modern 
languages fluently, was well read, was a sweet singer, 
and of a character altogether to be regarded with affec- 
tion. There was not an invalid on board, I verily believe, 
whom she did not endeavour to console or amuse with- 
out the slightest ostentatious display of doing so. 
There was certainly no fractious child, trying the 
patience of mother or nurse past endurance, whom she 
did not manage to soothe by the influence of her sweet- 
tone and manner. She 'walked the deck with squalling 
babies whom she had coaxed mamma to trust to her 
management. Others of her age would pass by such 
noisy specimens of youthful humanity with a shrug 
of annoyance or disgust ; she never did. Five minutes 
after the irritable, tormenting infant was consigned, 
sleeping, to its nurse's care. I saw her anxiously assist 
some tyro, bound like herself for a tour on the con- 
tinent of Europe, to construe German or Italian. Her 
parentage I discovered to be English and German, 
her birth American. She was an admirable combina- 
tion of the good qualities of all three nations. Com- 
paring the Anglo-Saxon belle, with her high intelli- 
gence, her noble principle, her self-control, her quiet, 
dignified, and ladylike bearing, with the vacillating 
and impulsive temperament of the Spanish beauty — 
now all listlessness, anon all passion — or with the 



208 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

frequently supercilious and haughty Jewess, wrapped in 
her exclusive mantle of anti- cosmopolitanism — the 
domination of the Anglo-Saxon race was readily com- 
prehended as the inevitable and redeeming element of 
the future of the world. 

Not least conspicuous among our party was a gay 
widow, who invariably reminded me of John Saxe's 
" mourner a la mode" yet she withal exhibited a con- 
siderable spice of the coquette in her daily promenades 
on deck en reine. An attendant bevy of cavaliers she with 
surprising tact and savoir-faire managed to keep con- 
stantly engaged in the performance of a hundred trifling 
offices, from that of nurse to her little child, an arch 
youngster of five or six years of age, to that of " first 
equerry " in attendance on her still more consequential 
self. The lady was well enough ; and if the "lords of 
creation " were so simple as to permit it, the lady was 
little to blame for fooling them "to the top of their bent." 

"We were favoured on board about this period by an 
evening lecture from a bishop of the " coloured persua- 
sion," as they are humorously termed in California. 
In consequence of the extreme softness and warmth of 
a tropical atmosphere, the discourse was delivered 
under the awning upon deck. Lanterns were hung at 
intervals along its full extent, and a small round table 
with a glass of water, and an unusually brilliant lantern 
upon it, were placed for the accommodation of the 
speaker, a short, thick- set man of the blackest colour, a 
fair type, as to physical strength and intellectual 
ability, of the hitherto trammelled and down-trodden 
African. His lecture, remarkable rather for pungency 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 209 

than logic, was undeniably very superior to one 
delivered a little while before by a " great gun " of the 
Sanitary Commission Brigade, who proved a poor 
specimen of the oratorical powers of the Anglo-Saxon 
type of manhood. The text of the white man, signi- 
ficantly chosen in accordance with the creed of the sect 
to which he belonged, was, " If any man preach any 
other Gospel unto you than that I have preached, let 
him be accursed ; " and this simple verse, without 
regard to context, the reverend gentleman contrived to 
render available for launching all the anathemas of 
revelation against the very large mass of God's 
creatures who presumed to differ from his ideas of ac- 
ceptance before heaven. A man of a much more liberal 
heart and creed was our African friend, whom suffering 
appeared, as it should do, to have taught toleration. 
In the course of his lecture he alluded to the passage of 
a law by the American authorities, some years before 
which weighed heavily upon the unhappy negro. He was 
then in one of the Northern States, and hearing the 
news, was constrained, out of his deep sense of injury, to 
exclaim, " What does Almighty God mean by it ? " (i.e. 
by suffering it). Said he, " How far was my capacity 
from comprehending the mysteries of the kingdom 
behind that of an old woman of my congregation whom 
we called Aunt Sally. When she heard the news for which 
we had so anxiously waited, she hopped up and down 
three times, waving her arms in the air, exclaiming, 
1 Glory be to God ! Glory be to God ! the tighter the 
hoop, the sooner the barrel will bust I 9 " 

The scene during that lecture would have furnished 



. FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



a subject for the pencil of a Rembrandt. The dim light 
of the lanterns shedding a partial gleam over the faces 
in the foreground, while those behind, at a first glance, 
appeared in an undistinguishable shadow ; the pic- 
turesque groups and careless attitudes into which the 
listeners had disposed themselves ; the light drapery of 
some ladies contrasting with the more sombre hue of 
others ; and beyond the outer circles of listening forms 
in shade, a dim glistening of the rolling waters — for it 
was not then moonlight — relieved ever and anon by a 
brilliant glitter of phosphorescent sparks in the wake of 
the steamer, — all presented a tout ensemble that would be 
enchanting to the eye of an artist. 

how often I sat at night — the balmy, genial night 
of those tropical seas, as distinct from the sultry heat of 
the shores in those regions as from the chill attendant 
upon the night hour in other climates — watching the 
sparkle and glow of the phosphoric light in the wake of 
the vessel, now stretching in shadowy hues of flame, now 
scintillating in myriad flashes, and anon breaking into a 
profuse shower of living diamonds as a sudden motion 
of our floating palace shivered the wave into a thousand 
acorns of foam ! 

It was the very poetry of Nature thus exhibited — 
beautiful beyond expression — beautiful enough to create 
a desire to dream away existence in such a Sybaritic 
atmosphere of delight, from which all the grosser ele- 
ments of common-place enjoyment were as far removed 
as the ideal and the sublime are from the practical and 
the vulgar. 

After passing Cape St. Lucas, which was distinctly 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



visible, the sea became considerably rougher, as it 
usually is for vessels crossing the Gulf of California, 
lumbers of birds were observed following the steamer 
for food, and one or two sharks were discovered bent 
on a similar purpose. It was about this time that we 
first noticed the appearance in the heavens of the con- 
stellations which are strangers to a more northern 
vision. The beautiful Southern Cross was more espe- 
cially remarkable. 

On Friday, April 28th, we stopped for an hour or 
two at the beautiful little cove of Manzanillo, where we 
parted with our Spanish beauty. We watched with 
considerable amusement her transmission on the back 
of a native from the small boat in which she quitted 
the steamer through the shallow water near the shore, 
as well as the poor patient mules under that tropical 
sun toiling on narrow, zigzag paths up the densely- 
wooded hills at the sides and back of the hamlet on 
shore, almost buried, poor animals, under their loads of 
dried palm-leaves used for thatching. 

The hamlet in question consisted of a couple of score 
of Spanish huts, heavily thatched, with an hotel and 
custom-house, long low dwellings of one story, with 
wide piazzas. Huts and hotel alike faced the sea. The 
natives, Mexicans, are a half-naked, dark-coloured race. 
There is, I believe, a Spanish or Mexican town of some 
importance a short distance inland, to which Manza- 
nillo is the only contiguous seaport. 

There is one nuisance about Manzanillo very effec- 
tive in keeping off Yankees and Europeans. It is a 
species of minute black fly, not much larger than a pin's 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



point, which abounds there. The sensation produced by 
its sting resembles that of a spark upon the skin, but 
unfortunately it remains much longer. Tropical seas 
are very pleasant indeed, and to my liking ; but tropical 
lands are the reverse, with their unfailing accompani- 
ments of snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and mosquitoes, 
which make it quite another affair. 

We reached Acapulco in one day more, a town 
whose pretty little harbour rejoices in a fine old fort as 
well as in a blazing sun. The heat here is commonly 
greater than that experienced at any other point during 
the transit from California to New York. It was 
literally broiling. I am not certain as to the height of 
the thermometer, but I think it was said to be near 
120° while we were there. I know the glare of the 
sun upon the stretch of water which intervened 
between our vessel and the shore nearly blinded me. It 
was with the utmost difficulty I obtained a sketch of 
the fort. Here we received supplies of water and coal. 
The latter article is conveyed there, I presume, by 
merchant ships for the coaling of the steamers. Of the 
quality of the former I cannot speak, a condenser being 
employed before we were suffered to drink it. The 
coal was conveyed from the shore to the steamer in 
large, shallow, flat-bottomed barges. Sheds for the 
storage of the mineral are erected at intervals along the 
shore of the harbour to the left hand, facing the town. 
A party of ladies and gentlemen, perhaps a dozen in 
all, risked the consequence of exposure to the burning 
sun, and started in a row-boat for the town, intending 
to breakfast there. Expressing my disinclination for 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 213 

the risk to a lady who had many times made the trip, 
she told me that upon one occasion a party of fifteen 
having persisted in going ashore, nine died. Pointing out 
a grove of palm-trees to the left of the coal- sheds, on the 
edge of the water, " There," said she, " is the spot 
where they lie buried. We stayed overnight here on 
purpose to bury them." 

The owners of the steamers are very considerate for 
the health of passengers in some respects during their 
passage through the tropics. Printed notices are hung 
up to warn them against purchasing fruit of the natives 
at the various stopping-places, or in fact against eating 
the fruit at all. It is considered exceedingly hazardous 
to do this. An orange eaten before breakfast is rather 
beneficial than otherwise, but there is no doubt that 
indulgence in fruit at any other time of the day on 
tropical seas is hurtful. People are apt to be very 
careless as regards appetite. There seems to be 
nothing in which they are less willing to act with 
self-denial. Parents, incited by the liberal provision 
of the first-cabin table, and not recognising the wisdom 
of the rules, which provide plainer fare for their 
children, who eat at other hours, persist in hoarding 
rich cakes, nuts, pastry, and other indigestible food, 
and stuffing their little ones with them, perhaps im- 
mediately after they have risen from a sufficient meal 
of plainer and more wholesome substances. 

Whether owing to the season or not, our company 
escaped from the dangers of sickness with the loss of 
but one of their number, a native of Boston, who, it 
was asserted, when he left San Francisco was in a 



214 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

precarious state of health. The unfortunate man, an 
officer in the American merchant service, and a passen- 
ger, could not be restrained, even in the hazardous 
atmosphere of the tropics, from his customary in- 
dulgence, at any hour, in the use of wine and spirits. 
It was in vain that old voyagers remonstrated with 
him during the last few days of his life. Even on the 
morning of his death, so long as strength remained to 
reach it, he persisted in helping himself to sherry from 
a demi-john which he kept in his state-room. It was a 
matter of surprise to many, and almost the only fault 
to be found with the excellent economy of the vessel, 
that the doctor did not enforce abstinence in this 
respect upon him. But the official in question was a 
young man ill calculated to inspire confidence in his 
medical capacity from want of firmness. He was also 
apparently too much absorbed in the admiration he 
excited among a certain class of very young ladies on 
board, barely emancipated from the thraldom of the 
schoolroom, who, but for the blase character of Cali- 
fornian juvenility, which disdains anything short of 
" oysters " or " ices," would have been defined by 
Byron as — 

" Smelling of tea and bread and butter." 
The poor man died, however, and as his death occurred 
after we quitted Acapulco, his body was consigned to a 
watery grave. It is fortunate that a passenger vessel 
often numbers a medical man among its passengers 
who may be found of experience sufficient to entitle 
him to confidence. There sailed with us a venerable 
gentleman of that profession, alike well qualified by 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



ability and experience. To him I know, in cases of 
ailment, the thoughts of the majority of the passengers 
turned. It is indeed surprising that very young men 
are ever chosen by the owners of vessels for positions 
of such great responsibility. Doubtless -ZEsculapius 
himself was once a lad ; but we should hardly place on 
the shoulders of iEsculapius minor the responsibilities 
very properly assumed by -ZEsculapius major. 

To return to Acapulco. The water in the harbour 
is of crystal clearness. The numberless sharks for 
which it is famous can be seen at a great depth from 
the surface. There is a story current about these ugly 
gentry which is curious, if true, and I have no reason 
to doubt the veracity of my informant. It is said that 
years ago the natives, now never seen to step into the 
water, were in the habit of wading and swimming to 
vessels entering the calm waters of the bay. Sharks 
were there, but no one was molested by them, till one 
unlucky day — unlucky for the swimming propensities 
of future natives — a shark took it into his head to bite 
the leg off one poor youth. From that hour the story 
went that no one was safe. Having once tasted blood, 
sharkdom, like despotism, kept a look-out for victims 
to devour by " right divine " in any unhappy waifs or 
strays of humanity daring enough to venture into the 
water. It was not till several boys and men fell 
victims to these despots of the deep that the natives 
ceased their old habit of swimming about the har- 
bour. 

As we were quitting Acapulco, glad enough to be 
once more on our way, being sick of the intense heat, 



216 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

to our great joy a light and pleasant breeze sprang up. 
The heat before had been well-nigh unbearable, and 
the air perfectly stifling. The iced water on board 
was at a premium. Of course all our viands were kept 
in ice, but the water supplied at table was not iced. 
Passengers could procure a dozen tickets for a dollar 
from the steward, each of which was available for a 
plate of ice. Taking care to send his ticket to the man 
who waits at his table a quarter of an hour before meals, 
he will find it placed ready for his use. Listen to this, 
you who are so full of the superior wisdom of our fore- 
fathers ! What would Drake, Raleigh, and Cavendish 
have done, if this had been improvised to them, but treat 
it as a dream ? Let our good fathers keep their wisdom 
where they are. There is another plan relating to 
meals adopted by American passenger vessels, and 
generally not so common in English steamers. Two 
friends or more desire seats at table near each other. 
Seats are allotted by small numbered tickets, given on 
the examination of the passage tickets. To secure a 
seat next to a friend, it is merely necessary to send 
your passage tickets together for inspection ; you are 
then certain to obtain tickets for the table with succes- 
sive numbers upon them. In some British steamers 
no method whatever is observed in relation to meals. 
Whoever first places his visiting card at a certain 
spot on the coloured cloth of the dining-table obtains 
the seat in front of it. I have known many unlucky 
individuals, ignorant of this custom, who suffered for 
the first few days at sea so as to be unable to leave 
their berths, awakened to the unpleasant certainty tha' 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 217 

there was no seat unoccupied at table when they did 
emerge from their state-rooms. 

The fare for first-cabin passengers upon the Pacific 
transit of the Mail Steamship Company's line is ex- 
cellent, as the following, selected at hazard from the 
daily bills of fare, will evidence : — " Mulligatawny 
soup ; baked salmon ; boiled — capon and oyster sauce, 
corned beef and cabbage, mutton and caper sauce ; 
roast — beef, pork, lamb, turkey, chicken, and mutton. 
Entrees — rognons de mouton, foie de poulets cm vin, 
agneau roti aux pois ; baked — ham and jelly, woodcocks, 
curry, and rice. Vegetables — beans, potatoes, green 
corn, squash, and turnips. Pastry — English plum 
pudding, greengage pie, quince pie, and apple pie. 
Dessert — oranges, almonds, and raisins, sponge cake 
and coffee. " On the British steamer crossing the 
Atlantic we had a greater variety of puddings, tarts, 
and delicate confectionery, and fewer entrees and made 
dishes. The dinners on the latter were undeniably 
served with more elegance in their array of silver dish- 
covers and salvers. Wines and liqueurs, the gentle- 
men remarked, were supplied at a more reasonable rate 
in the British vessel than the American. I can only 
answer for one important point on which it appeared 
to me superior both to the noble San Franciscan vessel, 
with her dexterous and civil coloured waiters, but much 
more so to the boat of Commodore Yanderbilt, with its 
wretched squad of white waiters, composed of the very 
dregs of society, which conveyed us from Aspinwall to 
New York, — I mean the attention paid to passengers. 
In the Golden City we met with the greatest civility — 



2i8 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

everything required in reason could be obtained. In 
Yanderbilt's line (I am told it is always the same) 
we met with positive insult in most cases, and with 
civility rarely. The simplest food, a bit of dry toast, 
required by those who had perhaps lain for three or 
four days unable to touch a morsel of the abundant 
fare which was their due, was refused without extra 
pay. On the British boat from New York to England 
it was not merely civility with which the passengers 
met — it was actual kindness. Some of us had ex- 
changed occasionally a polite word or two with the 
white stewardess on the Golden City ; but had only a 
glimpse at the official, a lady of the "coloured per- 
suasion," in the New York boat, when she smilingly 
accepted a fee at parting for services never rendered. 
We were afterwards surprised to find the stewardess in 
the British vessel more like a mother than anything 
else to every one who possessed a claim on her atten- 
tion upon the slightest symptom of being an invalid. 
How that woman contrived to be here, there, and 
everywhere at once, with her cheery ways and kindly 
smile, was a marvel. The delicate broths she used to 
prepare for the sick, the ethereal-looking sandwiches 
she contrived to cut for the convalescent, the medicine 
she insisted on pouring down unwilling throats in her 
good-natured way, were things to be wondered at. I 
mischievously suspected that she knew she would win 
more hearts and open more purses in this way than the 
crusty or sullen dames on the other boats, until I acci- 
dentally discovered that a poor woman, whom she had 
been petting and nursing all the way, had never had a 



THE GOLDEN GA TE. 219 

cent to give her. The poor thing had had her passage 
paid, and herself put on board penniless by relations 
who wanted to get her safely off their hands to other 
relatives in England. It gives one a confidence in 
humanity, after all, to meet occasionally with that vara 
avis — a being who is contented to do good for the love 
of doing it. The worthy stewardess in question told 
me she had early been left a widow, with a family of 
ten children dependent on her exertions, hardly one of 
whom was capable of contributing to its own support. 
It was affecting to hear the history of her struggles to 
maintain and rear them in decency, — of her agony of 
mind at one time, when engaged on a vessel in the 
Spanish trade, at being unexpectedly prevented send- 
ing remittances to England, which she knew were 
needed to buy bread by the poor but worthy couple 
who then had charge of her two youngest children, — of 
her anxiety to give the elder ones a little schooling, and 
of her grief at her compulsory separation from them. 

How much true heroism of soul is there to be found 
in the by-ways of life — heroism of which the world 
never knows, and would not care if it did. If the 
few comparatively do feel like children of true 
humanity, many use the pen in confirmation of the 
excellencies of some dubious hero of story, some human 
butcher, or some crafty statesman who dupes the multi- 
tude, thus affording eulogy to the worldly. To me the 
tribute of appreciation of the good qualities of that 
humble Englishwoman it is a delight to record. 

Shortly before our arrival at Panama we witnessed 
a tropical thunder-storm. Being early in the season 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



perhaps was the cause of its not exceeding in grandeur 
several I have witnessed in Europe. There were no 
sullen black skies, foaming waters, or waves lashed 
to fury by the power of the tempest — no blinding blue 
lines of forked lightning or appalling crashes of thun- 
der. The flashes came much like what is termed 
summer lightning in England. The air was rather 
more balmy than oppressive — possibly in consequence 
of its being evening. That same afternoon we had 
been much pleased and amused by the shoals of flying 
fish. Those pretty creatures frisked in their playful 
gambols along miles of our course, while countless 
huge porpoises tossed their clumsy bodies, apparently 
in the very acme of porcine relaxation, wantoning with 
the waves. The sun set that evening in a blaze of 
splendour. Those who have not visited tropical 
countries are apt to imagine that almost every evening 
witnesses this gorgeous spectacle of natural beauty. 
They are mistaken ; there were but two evenings in 
our trip on which the sunset was any way remarkable ; 
but those two afforded visions of glory never — no, 
never to be forgotten. The entire arch of heaven was 
like one vast concave of molten gold, excepting in the 
west, where it faded into violet, from that to pale 
green, and from that again into a bright blood-red, 
which tinged the wave it seemed to touch, until ocean 
and heaven appeared to blend — the fiery funeral pyre 
of the departing day. 

During the delicious moonlight hours which suc- 
ceeded we passed several islands. On one we discerned 
a light, and, expressing our wonder, were told by a 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 221 

gentleman on board a story which savoured strongly of 
the days of old, when buccaneers were rife in the 
soft tropical seas, and the Spanish main was swept by 
those pitiless brigands of the ocean. Hastily clustering 
around the speaker, a tale was told us by a mariner 
present of a pirate vessel which, being closely pressed 
by pursuers, ran into a cove of one of these islands, and 
there buried vast treasures, and how the pirates, by 
some fatality, had never again been able to find the 
island, and how the last survivor of the lawless band, 
after years of sickness and poverty had passed over his 
head, whitening his hair to the hue of the mountain 
snows, had toiled and struggled his way overland to 
California, only to die there, bequeathing to the 
watcher at his death-bed a description of the particular 
island upon which the treasure was buried, but died 
ere he intimated the precise spot where it would be 
found.* The individual to whom he imparted the 
secret succeeded in imbuing others with the faith 
which he himself possessed as to the possibility of 
recovering the treasure, and by means of shareholders 
in the scheme, actually fitted out a schooner from San 
Francisco, with a company prepared to dig the island 
over from end to end to discover the concealed riches. 
The circumstance of the fitting out of the schooner was 
a matter everybody recollected reading of in the papers. 
It was one of their watch-fires, we were told, that we 
had seen. The island is small. 

On a Friday we anchored in the peaceful bay of 

* This story had long been current among seamen in the West 
Indies. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



Panama at an early morning hour of the month of 
May. Here we waited, listlessly watching the pre- 
parations in the steam ferry-boat which was to convey 
us to the landing of the railway depot, the water being 
too low to admit of our large steamer proceeding there. 
The weather, hot enough, was neither so scorching nor 
so oppressive as it had been near Acapulco. The bay 
looked the perfection of tranquil loveliness. The city 
of Panama, not more than a mile or two distant from 
the ship, with the two quaint towers of its antique 
cathedral discernible above its other structures, was 
seen in the clear morning air. 

We had anchored at 6 a.m., but it was not until 
near ten that the ferry-boat received her load of pas- 
sengers. Half sorry to quit the noble Golden City, 
where we had met with much polite attention, and all 
the comfort possible in a well-filled first cabin, we how- 
ever left her, and crowded on board the little craft after 
she nestled up to the side of her giant acquaintance. 
Our steamer- chairs and hand-baggage, with our large 
trunks, had been weighed and checked the evening 
before. One hundredweight was allowed at that time 
for each first-cabin passenger ; all weight above that 
quantity was charged at the rate of twenty cents 
(10c/.) per pound, on payment of which a cheque was 
given to the passengers, and they had no more trouble 
with their luggage till it was delivered to them in 
New York. A baggage-master kept it in charge, who 
accompanied us the whole way. During our voyage 
from San Francisco to Panama, ladies who desired to 
get to trunks too large to be placed in state-rooms 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 223 

were allowed access to them at a specified hour every 
day, after which the baggage-master locked the door 
of the room, and was responsible for their safe keeping. 
On the other hand, such is the notorious character of 
the employes on the Yanderbilt boats between Aspin- 
wall and New York, that passengers who desired access 
to their trunks were warned that if once again opened 
(as the assistance of waiters was necessary to select them 
from the immense amount of baggage, thus giving them 
an opportunity of knowing whose trunks had been 
opened), the baggage-master would not be responsible 
for their safety ! Consequently, many who were igno- 
rant of this were compelled to make the balance of the 
trip in the dress in which they crossed the isthmus. 
This was a mortifying circumstance to those who had 
hitherto indulged in a variety of costume. As we 
struggled on to the little ferry-boat laden with carpet- 
bags — for the baggage-master refused to check any- 
thing in the shape of loose baggage, steamer- chairs, 
travelling shawls, and other et cceteras — it became a 
matter of difficulty to secure a spot sheltered from the 
beams' of the scorching sun. Ladies who had had the 
forethought to provide themselves with large broad- 
brimmed hats, and been quizzed for their peculiarity, 
were now envied their possession. Fans of endless 
variety were in universal request, but as it seemed 
manifest to me that the more energetically people fanned 
themselves, the hotter they got, I speedily discontinued 
the amusement. If ever unfortunate mortals stood slow 
torture, we did on that day, and in that steamboat. 
It was so small that, what with the heat of the 



224 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

machinery from within, and the heat of the sun from 
without, we were in a fair way to be baked, had we 
only remained long enough to have been done through. 
Fortunately, we soon came to a stand- still at the landing- 
place, where, I must say, the poor half-clad natives 
waiting anxiously for the chance of earning a dollar by 
carrying our hand-baggage acted in a far better manner 
than the hackmen of San Francisco are apt to do there 
on the arrival of steamers. Engaging an intelligent 
specimen of the race to convey my chattels, he followed 
me closely till I reached the train, which was in wait- 
ing for the passengers. The heavy baggage, which 
had followed us in two huge flat-bottomed barges, re- 
quired some time for its safe bestowal in the railway 
vans. 

We were now in Panama, so named by the Indians. 
It signifies a place abounding in fish. The harbour is 
formed by several islands, which afford a kind of break- 
water between the main and the ocean. The tides are 
regular. At low water, the shore, which is on a gentle 
slope, is dry for a great distance seaward from the city. 
Oysters are very plentiful in the bay, and the value of 
its pearls would probably be better known were they 
not chiefly consigned to the South American markets. 
Some offered to us for sale by a native were remark- 
ably large, and appeared of a fine shape and water, 
but distrusting our own judgment in the matter, we 
declined purchasing, a circumstance we afterwards 
regretted, being assured by a gentleman who had 
purchased half a dozen that he had rarely seen finer 
specimens. The pearl-fishery is rendered extremely 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 225 

hazardous, so I was informed, owing to the multitude 
of sharks that infest the harbour- 
In the year 1670 Panama was sacked and burned by 
the English buccaneer, John Morgan. At that time 
it was a city of twelve thousand houses, containing, 
besides, eight monasteries and two churches. Many of 
the houses are said to have been fine and commodious 
dwellings. But, notwithstanding those evidences of 
civilisation, the ignorance of the population is shown 
by a story related of a Spanish lady, with whom the 
bold buccaneer is said to have been greatly fascinated. 
She was astonished to find that the freebooters were 
men, not monsters having the shape of beasts, as she 
had been taught by the priesthood to believe. 

I confess I did not observe such evidence of com- 
mercial greatness at Panama, when I first saw it, as I 
had anticipated from the importance of its geogra- 
phical position. There was very little activity apparent. 
Our advent appeared to assume all the importance it 
might have been expected to do in one of the quietest of 
English villages. I could not help reflecting, while cross- 
ing the narrow isthmus, which is such an effectual barrier 
between the commerce of the two great oceans, upon 
the insane and short-sighted policy of nations, that lavish 
millions for the purpose of butchering each other, and 
supinely neglect or grudge the comparatively small 
outlay necessary for schemes the accomplishment of 
which would benefit the whole earth. The sums which 
the late civil war has cost America would have sufficed 
not only to build many Pacific Eailways, but, by means 
of a canal at Panama, to unite the Atlantic and Pacific 

Q 



226 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

Oceans for the passage of fleets. True, the war resulted 
in emancipation to the African ; but far less money than 
it cost, expended on the principles of Wilberforce, or 
effecting it by purchase, would have secured the freedom 
of every slave in the United States, though it is 
perhaps but too true that the Southerners would never 
have listened to such a scheme. Let us only take the 
cost of European butcheries at the whims of kings, 
and the jealousies of their half-witted satellites in 
history — the same result would be obtained in expense 
for better and defensible ends. 

I would fain have employed a little time in a ramble 
over Panama, the heat notwithstanding, for it was a 
place in which I felt much interest, being a fine old 
Spanish city, once fortified with walls of great height 
and strength, now of course in a dilapidated condition. 
The cathedral alone is an object of much interest. 
Possibly it was as well for health's sake that I did not 
risk absence from the train for such a purpose, there 
being no precise moment fixed for its departure. Having 
no desire to find myself cast a " waif and stray " on 
Panama society for any length of time by missing it — 
conscious too as I was that a railway in Panama, whose 
solitary line of rail permits the passage of but one train 
at a time, was a different affair from railways elsewhere, 
I turned my attention to the idiosyncrasies of Panama 
traffic as developed by sundry vendors of cakes, fruit, 
pies, parrots, and shells at the terminus, among which, 
I am sorry to be compelled to admit, a vast amount 
of superfluous squabbling arose. What wretched objects 
most of them were ! How one's heart ached to think 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



that humanity could exist surrounded by the evidences 
of a high civilisation, and be contented to remain so 
hopelessly degraded and inferior ! The business of the 
railway office was conducted by Spanish gentlemen, 
who appeared to great advantage, with their courteous 
gravity of deportment, even among the numerous 
American naval officers who lounged near our cavalcade. 
One, in particular, almost as gay as the rest were 
serious, was probably incited by the consciousness of 
possessing, in addition to handsome features, a remark- 
ably brilliant set of teeth. Whether they were the 
gift of nature it was uncharitable to question ; certain 
it is that he looked, as a lively young friend of mine 
remarked, the very personification of a " gay Lothario." 
By the time we were well-nigh weary of sitting cooped 
up in the hot, close cars, having exhausted every object 
of amusement visible in the grotesque appearance of 
the above-named traders in bananas and oranges, and 
deciding against a strong inclination to purchase a fine 
green parrot for six shillings, but yielding to one which 
prompted the acquisition of some bracelets ingeniously 
composed of tiny delicate pearly shells strung together 
with glass beads, the train moved off, amid the polite 
adieux waved to us by some of those who had come down 
from the ship, either in charge of the passengers, or 
from kind anxiety to see that all were comfortably 
disposed. The trip from Panama is usually accom- 
plished in about three hours ; on this occasion we went 
at a much greater speed than twenty miles an hour 
(the distance across, as is well known, being only about 
sixty miles), possibly to make up for the time lost by 



228 EIVE YEARS WITHIN 

our long delay in starting. Those who expect gorgeous 
colouring in grove or flower, in sky or water, on the 
Isthmus of Panama during the spring months of the 
year, will inevitably be doomed to disappointment. 
There is nothing grand, nothing vast, nothing of 
terrific wildness, or even of excessive luxuriance of 
vegetation remarkable about the country through 
which the railway winds its serpentine course. The 
scenery resembles the Derbyshire hills, thickly wooded, 
as many of those hills are, but not with any 
surprisingly large trees. Although the hills spoken of 
rise quite near the railway on either hand, yet the 
course of the latter is so chosen as to wind among or 
around them, in order, most probably, to avoid the 
expense of tunnelling. There are very few places 
where it has been necessary to raise embankments. 
A few tolerable bridges cross wide but at that time 
shallow streams. The foliage close to the railway is 
sometimes very dense ; at other spots small open glades 
are seen, and here and there, near a bridge, a pretty 
glen. The foliage in the early spring is much like 
that seen in the young plantations so constantly passed 
on the lines of railway in the woodland counties in 
England. As before observed, there was no solemn 
grandeur of aged forest-trees discernible, but more of 
luxuriant undergrowth than anything else even at that 
early season, foreshadowing the dense, impassable jungle 
it would become at a later time in the year. But for 
an occasional cluster of palm-trees, or here and there 
some unmistakable tropical vine or large-leaved 
blossoming plant, I could have imagined myself on 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 229 

the Midland Counties line somewhere in Derbyshire. 
The reader must not smile; my own impression on 
the subject was unconsciously corroborated by a sprightly 
little lady in England from the Sandwich Islands, who 
happened to have crossed the Panama isthmus at the same 
season, and who, every time the English railway cutting 
passed through a young plantation or some gentleman's 
park, exclaimed to her mother, "Mamma, mamma, 
here's Panama again ! " 

Occasionally our speed was checked for the purpose 
of taking in fuel and water. The fuel, being wood, 
was stacked on the side of the railway, without any 
protection for keeping it dry, and passed to the men at 
the engine by one or two of their number, who descended 
for the purpose. 

One feature of the landscape, which I have stated in 
its general outline to resemble parts of Derbyshire, was 
quite English enough to disenchant any veritable John 
Bull who might otherwise be inclined to regard it 
with favouring eyes. Every now and then a shrill 
whistle announced our approach to a native village, 
an assemblage of wretched huts, built of upright stalks 
of bamboo or sugar-cane, entwined with dried palm- 
leaves, of which the heavy thatch was likewise com- 
posed. Swarms of naked and half- naked children played 
around these hovels, at whose doors their parents might 
be ,.een, attracted from their occupations by the passage 
of the train. The men were clothed in some dirty 
light-coloured fabric ; the women, heavy, coarse speci- 
mens of " feminity," usually in white gowns (sans 
crinoline), with naked feet and arms, their dress-waists 



230 'FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

covered with, what ladies would call a sweeping berthe 
of linen, edged with common cotton lace, of which I 
should much have liked to obtain the pattern, it being 
perfectly distinguee in its way, though I do not think 
my admiration would have gone the length of recom- 
mending its adoption to my fair Caucasian friends. It 
looked to me as if one might hit it by laying a large 
oval- shaped piece of cloth flat on the table, and then 
cutting out in the centre an oval sufficiently large to 
admit the head and neck as far as the shoulders. 

The groups of native huts were always clustered near 
a superior wooden dwelling, much like a Californian 
farm-house, inhabited probably by Spanish" families, 
though what their occupation might be I never could 
find out, there being no signs of agricultural labour 
near, beyond that of a moderate-sized garden, usually 
surrounding the larger dwellings. 

We reached Aspinwall in good time, about 2 p.m., 
and had it not been for a most absurd delay, wholly 
unjustifiable in such a climate, we might have been all 
snug on board the steamer which was waiting to convey 
us to New York before nightfall. The port of Aspin- 
wall consists of one straggling street facing the sea, 
of which the solitary decent building is a wooden hotel 
of two stories, about equidistant on either hand. From 
the front of this hotel two long wooden piers stretch 
from the road into the sea. At the end of that to the 
left of the hotel ]ay the steamer destined for our accom- 
modation, carrying the stars and stripes. At the end 
of that to the right floated the noble British mail- 
steamer from Southampton, the red- cross banner of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 231 

England streaming from her mast. The Yanderbilt 
steamer, with her dingy colour and rusty smoke-stacks, 
looked to disadvantage beside the fresh paint and trim 
appearance of her English rival — it might have been 
to the annoyance of Americans, but for the remembrance 
of the magnificent floating palace on the other side the 
isthmus, which had so lately been our conveyance, and 
which might safely have challenged the admiration of 
the whole world. Intelligent people, both in England 
and America, are no way unwilling to admit the un- 
deniable truth that while American steamers generally 
excel in grace, beauty of appearance, and elegance of 
accommodation, English vessels surpass them in that 
massive strength of build so necessary for contention 
with Father Neptune in his angry moods in the 
Atlantic ; while in point of actual comfort they are 
little, if anything, behind them. In the British boat 
in which we crossed the Atlantic, for instance, the 
strength of her iron framework would weather seas 
whose first leap would have threatened destruction to 
our beautiful Pacific steamer ; and while the dining- 
cabin of the former, albeit exquisitely decorated, was 
no way comparable for size or splendour of proportion 
with the American, yet the state-rooms on the English 
boat of three thousand tons were much more com- 
modious than those on the Pacific steamers of four 
thousand. The proof of the assertions regarding 
strength, and though scarcely willing to say so, 
perhaps of seamanship, may be found in the fact of 
so many magnificent steamers of the American (Collins) 
Atlantic line having been wrecked, while onlv one, 



232 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the President, of the famous Cunard (British) line on 
the same route, has ever been lost. 

At Aspinwall we were convoyed to the hotel while 
the heavy luggage and freight were getting on board. 
Here we were detained till dusk by the viseing of our 
passports, before alluded to, by the American consul, 
for which process each individual was mulcted in the 
sum of a dollar ! The sum was reasonable enough, if 
necessary, although some gentlemen of our company, 
men of large fortune, pronounced it an unwarrantable 
imposition, and our friend, of Sanitary Commission 
notoriety, was highly indignant at the officials' refusal 
of greenbacks (legal tenders), and threatened to 
report their conduct at head- quarters. Whether 
legal or not, the passport affair altogether proved 
to be an unmitigated humbug. On reaching New 
York, where, we had been gravely informed by 
the authorities in San Francisco, we could not land 
without them, they were never demanded at all. I 
have mine safe enough at this hour, and intend to 
preserve it as an evidence of the credulity of human 
nature. The formality or the expense, however, was 
nothing ; the annoyance consisted in the wearying 
detention of the sick, the aged, and the infirm for 
hours, all having more or less luggage to get conveyed 
safely on board. At length, fairly worn out as many 
were, they determined to make an effort to get to the 
steamer : it was already nearly dusk. Those whose 
passports were ready started, engaging natives to carry 
their luggage, each of whom sensibly took care to keep 
close to his employer. The entrance to the pier, how- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 233 

ever, was guarded by large gates, through which we 
were forbidden to pass until the firing of a gun from 
the steamer. This might be well enough for the 
vigorous and healthy part of the company, but 
unfortunately there were many of the number actually 
unable to stand from weakness, who had with the 
utmost difficulty walked thither from the hotel, to say 
nothing of the unpleasantness of being compelled to 
stand in that sultry climate in such close proximity to 
the perspiring natives ; all of which annoyance and 
discomfort might have been spared by the simple in- 
formation that it was useless to attempt getting on 
board till the luggage and freight were there, and a gun 
should be fired. Instead, we were told that we could 
not get on board till the passports were all viseed ! I 
am inclined to believe the latter was the sole cause of 
our detention, as after the gates were opened no one 
was permitted to pass without producing a passport. 
And when the gates were at last opened, the scene was 
a disgrace to the regulations of the company, if it had 
any. A general rush forward was naturally made by 
those farthest from the gates, ignorant as they were 
that the passports were to be again examined there ! 
The officials at the gates rudely thrust the nearest 
people back, obliging them to submit to all sorts of 
blows from the ends of steamer-chairs and camp-stools 
and the other baggage carried by the natives, them- 
selves, poor creatures, forced by the pressure to crush 
the feet of delicate women, knock down children, and 
overturn the feeble, at the risk of their being trampled 
to death. I shall never forget the agony of a lady of 



234 -FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

our number at finding her child, a little fairy of some 
four summers, who had been the delight of every one, 
torn from her in the struggle, nor her ghastly expres- 
sion as she fell fainting in the arms of apparently the 
most humane of the officers of the boat, who rushed 
out and caught her as she was falling. The shrieks 
and groans and clamour of those few minutes were 
beyond expression disgraceful to those who so 
wretchedly mismanaged the direction of people whose 
lives were under their charge. One lady in the crowd 
was obliged to be carried in a chair, having been bed- 
ridden for two years. How she fared in mind and body 
may be better imagined than described, while the 
simplest forethought on the part of the American 
officials might have prevented all the inconvenience. 

Once all on board the steamer, it got under weigh 
immediately. It was now night. Children, wearied 
out with the heat and exertion of the day, were cry- 
ing for their beds, and none had as yet a state-room 
assigned to them. Here, however, the chivalrous 
homage of Americans towards women again made it- 
self apparent. In defiance of the clamour raised by 
some husbands in demanding state-rooms for their 
families, not a creature was served till every woman 
who was travelling alone, whether single or otherwise, 
was first provided with a bed. This was more difficult 
as, in addition to our crowded number of first-cabin 
passengers on the Pacific steamer, some sixty or seventy 
others from the West Indies by the Southampton 
steamer were on board, on their way to JSTew York. 
Eventually, I believe, all were supplied, but very 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 235 

differently from what it would have been under British 
control. In consequence of giving the precedence to 
the first-cabin lady passengers who were alone, some 
families who had paid the highest rate of first-cabin 
fare (there are two rates of first- cabin fare on American 
boats) were compelled to put up with somewhat inferior 
accommodations. One unfortunate gentleman, who had 
possibly rejoiced at the fact under other circumstances, 
was compelled, in consequence of being the only single 
man in the first cabin, to put up with a bed on deck, 
screened by one of the ship's boats turned upside down 
over him, Many were the sly wagers offered by merry 
lips that for once he envied the Benedicts he had 
doubtless hitherto triumphed over. Having been con- 
spicuous for a gentlemanliness of appearance in attire, 
it must have been provoking to be compelled to come 
down, morning after morning, from his eyrie, and pass 
through the upper first cabin en route for the necessities 
of the toilet in a friend's room in the lower tier. 

Among other agreeable information we received on 
board, after that unlucky day at Aspinwall, was the 
news that, a day or so before our arrival, the steamer 
had burst one of her three boilers, in consequence of 
which she might require a fortnight to reach New 
York, instead of the customary nine days. 

However, we were fortunate enough to arrive at our 
destination after no more than ten days' imprisonment 
and conflict with the horrors of the Caribbean " chop 
seas " en passant. The only adventure we had worth 
relating during that time was encountering a " white 
squall." In consequence of the heat, it was usual to 



236 -FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

leave the windows of the state-rooms open at night. I 
was roused from sleep by a loud and curious noise as of 
wind rushing violently up an iron funnel. I found 
that the noise proceeded from the circular window or 
port-hole in my state-room. Hastily looking out, I 
saw the sea wildly lashing the sides of the ship, which 
creaked and groaned like a human being writhing 
in mortal agony. At a distance I observed a thick 
white fog, which did not appear to extend far over the 
sea. In a few moments more I could not see a yard 
from the ship for this fog. Summoning a person to 
fasten the heavy screw of the window, I returned to my 
berth, doubtful whether I should reach it in an upright 
or horizontal position from the tremendous pitching of 
the vessel, when — just as I reached it safely, to my great 
surprise and content — crash went the foretopmast, with 
its sails, as I afterwards found, split into shreds ! The 
fury of the squall, however, was quickly spent. The 
whole affair did not last more than ten minutes. Next 
morning a neighbour of mine informed me that, not 
being roused by the beginning of the storm, she slept 
on till a dash of water through her state-room window 
effectually roused her, by washing over the foot of her 
berth and deluging the floor of her room. 

The evening before we reached JSTew York some 
uneasiness was excited in the minds of the passengers 
by the sudden stoppage of the boat. A red light was 
discernible on the land, which last, during the afternoon, 
had been dimly visible, suggesting no less, as well as 
did the numerous fishing- smacks and small craft which 
were repeatedly passing us, the near approach to our 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 237 

destination. The red light proved to be on Cape May. 
Then the timorous prophesied all sorts of horrors, of 
which shipwreck was certainly the climax. It is sur- 
prising how little is required to raise a panic among a 
crowd of human beings, the only sensible course being 
the last pursued. Our imaginary danger was occa- 
sioned, as might have been expected, by stopping to 
take soundings. 

Early the following morning we entered the Bay of 
New York. Passing the lighthouse at Sandy Hook, 
Staten Island — whose beauties have been frequently 
described by far abler pens than mine — rose before us 
the very personification of loveliness, with its shady 
trees and velvet turf green with the brilliant verdure of 
early spring, in the sight of eyes long accustomed to 
the brown hills and sterile grandeurs of San Franciscan 
scenery. The bright waters of the bay, with its busy 
tribe of vessels of every description — from the ugliest 
scow that ever rejoiced in the classical name of Ajohro- 
dite to the noblest steamer that floats upon the sea — 
presented a scene of animated beauty not easily to be 
forgotten : the freshly-painted white houses too, with 
their green jalousies and encircling flower-beds, the 
latter hardly so universal as in England. Still, whatever 
the scene lacked in the substantiality of its villas and 
cottages was eminently made up in the brightness and 
beauty and freshness of its appearance, to say nothing 
of the clearness of its atmosphere. If anything could 
be wished different to the eye of taste, it would undeni- 
ably be that a good many of the straight, stiff, wooden 
houses were replaced with Italian villas and Gothic 



238 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

cottages in grey stone, introducing, for variety's sake, a 
crumbling ruin, with here and there a "moated grange." 
This done, however, the landscape would be no more 
than many a scene of beauty to be found in the Old 
World. As it stands, it has a character of its own, 
eminently and peculiarly American — appropriate to 
that land which, in its care for the present and 
regard for the future, mingles no thought for that 
past of itself which never existed. If it has, in conse- 
quence, no softening influences, it has no regrets. 
Absorbed in the consideration which renders it a 
present benefit to humanity, and the contemplation of 
a future which bids fair to surpass other nations in ulti- 
mate blessings to the human species, it can afford to 
surrender the past, with the mellowing, refining, and 
hallowing influences of its regrets for evils wrought, 
and recollections of good achieved ; it can yield its 
deathless glories and its immortal honour to the soil of 
that Old "World on which those triumphs have been won. 

The scenery around New York tells of a busy and a 
thriving people — beautiful wooded rolling land, thickly 
dotted with comfortable, and frequently luxurious dwell- 
ings. 

An admirable position from which to study its natural 
features is that obtained by a view from Central Park, 
which ornament to the city, at the time I saw it, I 
believed exceeded almost any park in the world for 
size and promise of future beauty. I was then ignorant 
of the actual extent of the parks of Europe, and, for- 
getting that by dint of a serpentine course, a drive of 
nine miles could easily be made in a park of not more 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 239 

than three miles' circumference — such as the Regent's 
Park in London — I was led by my faith in the future 
glories of America to assent to our driver's pompous 
announcement that there was no park in Europe as fine 
or extensive. The good man declared all Europeans 
with whom he had conversed admitted it. That the 
view from the New York is more beautiful than is to be 
seen from any European parks I incline to believe. It 
is a panorama of great beauty and extent. A smiling 
landscape threaded by the noble East river (not unlike 
the scenery from the grounds of the Crystal Palace, 
Sydenham, only in the latter view the beautiful river is, 
of course, wanting), and the magnificent aqueduct of 
High Bridge, 300 feet in height, which is seen span- 
ning it about two miles distant. This park is greatly 
injured at present by squalid tenements in many 
places around it ; not even two- story dingy brick 
houses, which would be bad enough, but miserable, 
dilapidated, wooden huts or shanties, many of which 
are clustered in view of some of the back windows of 
the princely Fifth Avenue mansions. Even to an 
artist's eye there is no picturesqueness in these hovels : 
they are too incongruous in such close proximity to 
lawns, fountains, and ornamental pavilions. By the 
time the shrubs and saplings of Central Park shall have 
acquired the umbrageous foliage of forest-trees, artisti- 
cally dispersed in groves or groups upon hill and knoll, 
it will be beyond question as beautiful as any in the 
world. At present, it is in too crude and undeveloped 
a state to merit that title. In the year 1863 more 
than 70,000 trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants were 



240 -FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

planted in the park. The " skating-pond " did not 
appear to me nearly as extensive as the ornamental 
water in the Regent's Park, London, where the endless 
variety of beautiful forest-trees and blaze of colour in 
its delightful French gardens give it a beauty of an 
entirely different character from that of Central Park, 
the chief loveliness of which at present consists in its 
exquisite panoramic scenery. 

Broadway — the pride of New York, the fashionable 
promenade of its population, the elysium of belles and 
dandies — is a fine street, three miles in length — that of 
Oxford Street and Holborn united. It is much superior 
to those streets in uniformity of height and general 
architecture. Its buildings are commonly four or five 
stories high ; it has magnificent hotels, and shops 
whose display — with the exception, perhaps, of "Jay's" 
and " Holmes's " — is equal to that of Regent Street. 
The aristocratic equipages, with their superb horses and 
liveries seen in the latter during " the season," are not 
equalled in New York ; but, unless during the height 
of summer, I question if the toilets on Broadway at the 
fashionable hour do not excel those seen on Regent 
Street in show. The devotion of American women to 
dress is proverbial, as before observed. 

The following graphic description of Broadway I 
cannot resist giving from a native source, as it is a 
pretty faithful painting, if a little humorous : — 

" About seven o'clock in the morning comes down 
Broadway a steady stream of errand-boys, under-clerks, 
porters, work- girls, artisans, and labourers. Come 
into it — there is no danger : would that Broadway 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



24] 



could always show so many honest hearts and faces ! 
You may not smell such fine tobacco as later in the 
day perfumes the street ; you may even sometimes 
smell gin; but you may keep your hand off your 
pocket-book, and it is about the only time of the day 
that you can do so with safety. With this tide of 
human life mingle the hideous rag-and-paper mer- 
chants, who come from no one knows where, and 
mysteriously disappear to the same unknown place. 

" About eight o'clock the stream improves (in 
appearance). Portly forms — Wall Street operators — 
enveloped in broadcloth and perspiration ; clerks in 
wholesale houses ; bank clerks, with pale faces, dressed 
with scrupulous care, who walk over the paving- stones 
as considerately and tenderly as if performing the 
same operation on eggs ; lawyers and brokers ; all 
tending down town. 

" About eleven o'clock a side-walk guard is formed 
of young men ' uniformed ' in garments of either the 
hearthrug or Confederate flag pattern (as far as width 
of stripe is concerned), who sport extensive mous- 
taches, stiff hair soaked in grease, and enormous tooth- 
picks. These emerge from Grand Street and neigh- 
bouring streets, and gradually monopolising the en- 
trances of hotels and street corners, they commence from 
those positions to rake the street. No woman escapes 
their stare, they miss no chance of picking pockets, they 
offer to young merchants from the country the chance 
to ' see life,' and lead them unto death. They form in 
knots and swindle the unsophisticated ; there is not a 
meanness or rascality of which they are incapable, 

R 



242 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



" About three or four o'clock, however, the scene 
changes, and Broadway is thronged by specimens of 
the New York type of the genus homo. The male is 
distinguished by a whalebone cane, and a general 
appearance of dissatisfaction that curling-irons, paint, 
and powder will not make him identical with the 
opposite sex. The opposite sex resembles a moving 
clothes-horse, most of the load being at the bottom, 
and the upper portion entirely unprotected save by a 
bunch of grapes, artificial flowers, pumpkins, or any 
fashionable fruit dictated by the milliner. About this 
time also the ten-o'clock class are coming back from 
their business ; the pale-faced bank clerks slide through 
the crowd, ministers come out to look at what they 
deem a sad spectacle, tuft-hunters take this time to 
show themselves, foreign counts abound, and all 
nations are represented. In the windows of the l St. 
Scratcham ' hotel men from all parts of the world may 
be seen watching this procession — Western trappers, 
New York fast men, Quakers with the regulation 
broad-brim, newly-fledged army officers, stout old 
Englishmen, lean Frenchmen, swarthy Italians, and 
even the Turkish turban and the Indian blanket have 
been seen there. 

" By fire or six o'clock the fashionable portion of 
the procession disappears, and gradually the street 
becomes thin. Then, after a time, come back the 
labourers, the artisans, and shop-girls, and soon after 
the curtain of darkness falls." 

To Calif ornians, accustomed to a gold and silver cur- 
rency, the use of the dingy greenback, at that time uni- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 243 

versal in New York, was very disagreeable. The annoy- 
ance of a bundle of bits of soiled paper, varying in value 
from ten pounds to a penny, in the purse at once, may 
be easily imagined. Attempts were made to provide 
purses with separate compartments for certain numbers, 
but this was a poor remedy for the unpleasantness. 
Some paper was so horribly dirty that one felt tempted 
to fling it away rather than harbour it in the purse. 

The city at this period was in its last stage of 
mourning for the murdered President, the thirty days 
of official mourning having nearly expired. The 
public buildings were draped with much taste in a 
very effective mixture of white and black. The 
columns of many buildings were completely swathed 
in black, but the private dwellings were hardly so 
universally draped as those in San Francisco. Kirby 
Smith and his band were the only Southern regiments 
still holding out against the North. Booth had met 
his death during our vo} 7 age. Regiments were con- 
stantly arriving from the seat of war. The second 
night of our stay Broadway was roused from slumber 
by the band of a regiment just arrived playing that 
spirit-stirring air, " The Battle-cry of Freedom," as 
the troops marched past. The inhabitants of Broad- 
way, much less demonstrative than I think San Fran- 
ciscans would have been at the sight of their gallant 
defenders under such circumstances, suffered them to 
pass without a cheer. Possibly the novelty of such 
sights had worn off. To me there was an indescribable 
sensation consequent upon the sight ; a curious mix- 
ture of anguish and of gladness, mingled with the 



244 . FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

impression of solemnity. How thrilling is all national 
music ! It is not alone the soul of an Englishman 
which thrills to the sound of the majestic " Rule 
Britannia," nor the eye of an American only that 
moistens at the performance of the "Star-spangled 
Banner." The Frenchman is inspired by the "Mar- 
seillaise," but he is in no way callous to the national 
music of other lands. Cold indeed must be the heart 
which does not throb quicker at sounds which have 
been accompaniments to the heroic deeds of heroic 
men for generations, without reference to any parti- 
cular nationality. I love them all. If a stronger senti- 
ment is aroused by the national anthem of any one 
land beyond another, it is by the two whose glorious 
straius chiefly vibrate to that necessity of humanity 
which will yet bring conquest as well as conviction to 
their banner — the trumpet tones of Freedom. 

Prices were exorbitant in Hew York about the close 
of the war. Millinery, when paid for in gold, was 
higher than in San Francisco, and nearly, if not quite, 
double its value in England. Linen-drapery almost the 
same. Provisions not quite so high as in California. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 245 



CHAPTER XIII. 



REPORT ON THE WESTERN MINING. 



From an introductory letter attached to the Report of 
the mineral resources of the States and territories west 
of the Rocky Mountains, in North America, with the 
letter of instructions prefixed, signed by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, followed by -a letter from Mr. Ross 
Browne, the Commissioner, dated from San Francisco, 
it appears that from 1861 to 1865 inclusive, the gold 
and silver raised in the Oregon, California, Nevada, 
and Washington territories reached in value 278,711,000 
of dollars. Including several new districts, the product 
for 1866 was estimated at 106,000,000 dollars. Some 
thought the last estimate exaggerated. Whether so or 
not, it would appear that it exceeded in amount all the 
gold and silver in the national treasury, and in all the 
banks in the States, estimated at 69,700,000 dollars. 
The attention is naturally drawn to this Report from 
considering the magnitude of the precious metals, added 
to those raised in Australia, and yet that gold keeps up 
its price in the market. The Report states in a sum- 
mary the heads of the different sections, in all thirteen, 
into which the work is divided, and the names of the 
individuals employed, together with the mode of pro- 



246 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

ceeding recommended. The subject is important, 
because it affects the circulating medium in every 
country, more particularly in the matter of supply. 

The earliest mention of gold in California was in a 
bay near lat. 38° by Sir Francis Drake in 1579. This 
discovery is now doubted, because no "reasonable 
quantity " was obtained, nor is it found at all near the 
ocean in lat. 38° at the present day, and it is that 
latitude to which Drake alluded. It is reported that 
the people of Mexico found gold near the Colorado 
river at various times between 1775 and 1828, at San 
Isidor, and near Monterey. It was not until 1838 that 
it was discovered at a spot north-west of Los Angeles. 
This deposit was not very rich. In 1841 further disco- 
veries were made, but the principal and rich gold fields of 
Sacramento were not known until 1848, being discovered 
by a person named Marshall, who was engaged in cutting 
a sluice to erect a saw-mill for Mr. Sutter, a native of 
Baden, who had emigrated to that country. During 
his labour Marshall found pieces of a yellow metal 
which some of the workmen thought to be gold. 
Marshall could not prove the metal to be gold, nor 
disprove it from his ignorance. They soon found more 
as the water washed away the earth from the bottom 
of his cutting. Some of the supposed gold was taken 
to San Francisco, and found to be really the precious 
metal. A person who was acquainted with washing 
for gold of a similar kind went with one of the men 
employed at the mill just before to examine the dis- 
covery. They found the mill at work, no one 
apparently thinking more about the yellow bits of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 247 

metal. They got a pan and spade, and washed some 
of the earth from the bottom of the mill-sluice, and in 
a few hours it was pronounced that the product was 
exceedingly good. They went to work in earnest, and 
every day produced its ounce or two of metal per head. 

In a little time after a person named Redding, the 
owner of a spot of land at the head of the Sacramento 
Valley, about seventy-five miles from the mill, went to 
see the discovery, returned home, and soon had gold 
searched for and found upon his own property, and thus 
the second working commenced, called " Bedding's 
Diggings." 

It was not to be imagined that such discoveries could 
be long concealed. The intelligence regarding them 
reached San Francisco. The newspapers published the 
discovery made at the mill. The whole country from San 
Francisco to Los Angeles was roused. The sordid 
spirits first cried " Gfold, gold ! " It very soon became 
the general cry. Everything but the search for gold 
was now abandoned. Fields were left half-planted, 
houses half- built, shovels and picks could not be 
made fast enough, nor the means of transportation be 
obtained to reach a spot where one man had made a 
hundred and twenty- eight dollars in a day, and the 
average profit for many was twenty dollars for that 
space of time. 

Not satisfied, new " placers " — an Americanism for 
mineral deposits — were sought, and getting much, each 
man wanted still more. At the end of 1848 miners 
were at work in every large stream on the west of the 
Nevada for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, as 



248 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

well as at Redding's Diggings, in the northern part of the 
Sacramento Valley. The excitement increased. Oregon, 
the Hawaiian Islands, and Senora sent thousands to 
share in the search. In 1850 the population of Cali- 
fornia had risen from 15,000, in 1847, to 100,000. The 
average yearly increase of the territory for five or six 
years subsequently was fifty thousand. 

The statement or Report next proceeds to explain the 
instruments used and the estimated labour. It would 
appear that in all two hundred and five miles of 
ditches had been constructed, and 6,000 dollars per 
day made by the sale of water for washing the earth- 
The miners went in bodies, or what were called locally 
" rushings," in search of new diggings. They had a 
vague idea that the gold must come from some great 
deposit. Many of the delusions on this head were 
singular enough, through the extravagance of the 
popular stolidity. Wonderful reports were spread 
which were wholly destitute of foundation. 

The inventions to facilitate the labour are stated in 
this Report, which consists of three hundred and sixty 
pages. It is pretty clear, too, that the gold found had 
been originally in quartz, which had afterwards become 
disintegrated. Machinery was introduced to crush the 
quartz, and large sums expended uselessly. These im- 
provements are detailed. Some rivers were turned to 
no great advantage. In 1851 the gold found in 
Australia caused a desertion of numbers to that conti- 
nent, and to Peru ; but most who went, especially to 
the latter country, were disappointed. The largest of 
the ancient river-beds in California were turned, and 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 249 

afforded 25,000,000 of dollars in gold. The table moun- 
tains of Tuolumne also afforded much, treasure. The 
Frazer river, in high favour, disappointed most who 
essayed there. A very noted discovery was made at 
Gold Canon, a branch of the Carson river. The 
Washoe excitement, so called, is detailed, and the rise 
of Virginia city, near which the amount of silver pro- 
duced was wonderful, averaging 12,000,000 of dollars, 
or 800 per head on the spot. 

The silver mining appears to have been for some 
time neglected, but it has since mounted up to a large 
profit, and the product seems to increase. 

The various mining theories and practices are 
described at considerable length, as well as the nature 
of many of the speculations. The Columbia and Cariboo 
mines are noticed last of all. 

The second section of the Report bears relation to the 
geological formation of the Pacific slope by Mr. Ash- 
burner. It treats of the mining interest generally, of 
the gold belt of the northern mining districts, and of 
that in the hills or sierras. 

In an allusion to the Australian gold, it would 
appear that it is of remarkable fineness — much finer 
than that of California. These last mines returned 
about 25,415,401 dollars for 1866. Those of Australia 
in 1865 about 29,627,916. 

The gold belt of California — at least, the most pro- 
ductive portion from lat. 37° — extends about two 
hundred and fifty miles, narrowing on the south to 
twenty-five. The State Geological Survey of 1866 
contains the best information regarding the quartz 



250 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

veins. These vary in width from one foot to two feet 
six inches. One, however, was noticed twenty-five 
feet wide, and another fifteen. Slate, granite, and 
greenstone are the principal rocks : which of these is 
most prolific is not as yet noted. Tn Mariposa county 
the veins are in slate, first worked in 1852, when they 
gave for a time seventy- five dollars per ton. Since 
1861 the veins yield only 18*14 dollars per ton. 

Here the Eeport gives the returns of other mines in 
that district, and then describes the northern dis- 
tricts and cost expenses. From 1857 to 1865 the mine 
Sierra Buttes raised, in the gross, 1,120,000 dollars ; 
expenses, 385,000 ; profit, 735,000. The principal 
expenses were for milling or crushing the quartz. 

It must be observed that the product of the gold 
mines of California is already beginning to decrease. 
It was in 1853 that most of it was raised. It fell in 1861 
to 40,000,000 dollars, from 57,000,000 in the former 
year, and in 1865 they raised but 44,984,623. It is 
true the exact amount cannot be ascertained. Some 
miners bury their dust until they remove ; some is manu- 
factured ; about 4,000,000 dollars in value is coined. 
The quartz mines, however, are observed to be upon 
the increase, and it is upon these that the country 
must look for its continued supply of the precious 
metals. The operations of mining are always uncertain. 
Even in the quartz the metal is by no means equally 
disposed. In some veins little or none will be found ; 
in others it will be rich, occurring in what the Cornish 
miners call " bunches." The mills for stamping are 
of various weights and sizes. There is a table in the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 251 

present Report of eighty-four different mills, with their 
product and cost. The amalgamation and various 
processes are fully described. For notices of the 
several mines reference must be made to the work 
itself. 

The Comstock mine is said to be the richest in the 
world. A strip of land six hundred yards wide and 
three miles long has yielded 12,000,000 dollars per 
annum. The silver companies of the Nevada mines 
lead in product beyond any others in the world — 
even beyond Potosi. In Mexico, where a hundred 
men are required, twenty only can do the same work 
here. 

An historical sketch of the Nevada possesses consider- 
able interest. The original inhabitants of the county 
were the Washoes, the Pah-Utahs, the Shoshones, and 
Pannocks. Except these last, they are all inoffensive and 
peaceable people, showing a good-natured indifference to 
all going on around them. The Washoes are in particu- 
lar a friendly race, and commendable for their honesty. 
Nomadic to a certain degree in their habits, they have 
still favourite spots in the mountains, where they feed 
upon a species of pine nut, depending almost wholly 
upon nature for the supply of their wants, and living 
under the shelter of the willow-trees. They are 
extremely poor. Their dress is composed of hare- 
skins and cast-off garments of the white people. They 
are considered not a badly-disposed race. The women, 
as usual among similar tribes, do all the laborious 
work. Their intercourse with the whites has much 
demoralised them — a thing not singular with all the 



252 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

Indians, unhappily for their position and future exist- 
ence. 

The first discovery of gold in the Carson river was 
by accident, and it was followed up in the usual 
manner. It would seem, from the early exhaustion of 
the spot at first found to be rich, as if the mineral wealth 
were placed in those particular spots to tempt a popu- 
lation and stock an uninhabited territory with people. 
In 1849, on an emigrant road in a ravine of con- 
siderable depth, a discovery of gold took place, and the 
foundation of Carson city was the result. The gold 
found there was evidently the result of disintegration. 
Other spots were worked near by, and then abandoned 
to the Chinamen, who are said to have taken out gold- 
dust afterwards to the extent of between three and 
four hundred thousand dollars. In this way towns 
sprang up, and were in some cases abandoned when 
no more of the precious metals could be abstracted. 

The State of Nevada seems to be one of considerable 
interest. Nevada means " snowy mountains." The 
same name is given to the hills near Granada, in Spain. 
They rise here to an elevation of from five to six 
thousand feet, and for three hundred miles form a 
natural barrier between that State and California. 
Some of the loftier peaks of the Sierra Nevada reach 
ten thousand feet in elevation. They are covered with 
spruce, pine, and scrubby wood. They rise irregu- 
larly and disordered. On some of the interior peaks of 
the Sierra the snow lies all the summer. Most of the 
district is well watered, especially in the west and 
south. There are many gaps through the mountains 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 253 

affording passes. The rock is principally syenite, slate, 
and granite. Limestone and porphyry are to be found 
in the range, and evidences of volcanic action abound, 
though of remote date. The numerous ravines in 
these mountains are called "canons." The summits 
are generally rounded, as if from disintegration. Here 
and there spire-like points may be met with, but it is 
not the general character these elevations assume* 
Some of the land on their sides contains fine garden 
earth enough for small farms. As the mountain chain 
continues for a hundred miles or more together without 
a break or deviation from its course, so do the inter- 
vening valleys with very slight inclinations. Some- 
times they spread into plains of considerable extent, or 
sweep round a mountain, and run into other valleys 
nearly upon the same level. • Streams of water run 
through a few of the valleys ; but many of the smaller 
mountain streams are lost, sinking out of sight, or else 
are absorbed in the dry porous earth of the vales them- 
selves. Where a stream, however small, runs, there is 
generally a strip of green meadow along its shores. 
Some of the vales show good arable land where there is 
no stream. Some valleys are perfectly sterile, clearly 
from the lack of irrigation. 

The large plains in the district are marked by 
greater sterility and dryness than the other parts of 
this singular and remote country. In general, how- 
ever, the plains are barren, having little wood, grass, 
or wholesome water, the latter being tainted with 
minerals, and thus rendered unfit for use. The feature 
of the district being so situated, with no outlet to 



254 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the sea, its collected waters become a lake in form — 
an " alkali flat " or a " salt-bed," to use the local terms. 

The lakes in this remote State are formed by the 
waters of the Carson, Walker, and Humboldt rivers : 
one is called the Pyramid Lake, about thirty-three 
miles long by fourteen wide, and very deep. This is 
the largest. All the lakes here are impregnated with 
alkaline salts, and are scarcely fit to drink, especially 
when their waters are low. There are also mud lakes. 
What are called " alkali flats " consist of mud dried up. 
Many of the smaller lakes become thus dry late in 
every season. These last are never deep, not more 
than a foot or two. The bottoms are level. Some have 
their bottoms always covered with a few inches of 
water, and look at the same time as if they were of 
great size and depth. There seem to be many singu- 
larities in these lakes. In the season they dry up, 
often exhibiting a crust from the mud which becomes 
extremely hard. The rivers and streams are of no 
magnitude, and are nearly all fordable. The Hum- 
boldt, for example, is the largest and longest river in 
the State. In general the rivers have hurried currents. 
A cascade of any size is unknown. The trout in some 
of the streams is described as excellent. The springs 
are numerous, and of all kinds, cold, tepid, or hot, and 
impregnated with mineral substances, marked, too, wit h 
certain peculiarities. Some called the Steamboat 
Springs are sulphureous, and others chalybeate. 

The salt-beds found are abundant and pure. That 
at Sand Springs, near Virginia city, is noted. It 
extends over some hundreds of acres, with a few inches 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 255 

of water upon a stratum of salt a full foot thick. A 
second space of salt-bed covers twenty miles square. In 
this new State timber appears to be scarce. It is the 
mining, however, which is the valuable and profitable 
undertaking in the Nevada. The surface there is 
also rich in organic remains, both animal and vegetable. 
Entire trunks of fossil trees have been discovered well 
preserved. 

The product of silver at Comstock is the richest in 
the world, and the works are already considerable. 
The whole product of the mine in bullion from 1859 
to 1866 was 70,725,000 dollars. Still, as usual in 
mining, all is uncertain as to profit and loss. 

" So large was the income from some of the claims 
at the Grold Hill mine at one time that they readily 
commanded from five to fifteen thousand dollars. The 
net monthly profit yielded from five hundred to three 
thousand dollars per lineal foot. In some cases persons 
owning but ten feet enjoyed from this source an annual 
revenue of more than twenty, and some approximating 
to thirty thousand dollars." 

Tables are given exhibiting the shares, prices, and 
assessments as far as they could be ascertained. They 
show the usual fluctuations in such concerns, and that 
large profits must have accrued, while there has been 
an equal proportion of losses. 

It is worthy of observation that much of the mining 
has been followed up by fits and starts, and often 
abandoned without profit. Of seventy millions of 
dollars in gold and silver extracted from the mines of 
Nevada, it is thought not more than a third was paid 



256 t FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

to shareholders as dividends. Some mines become 
depressed far beneath their real value. Such, how- 
ever, must naturally be the case where no rule of sober 
reflection guides the operations, but all is the work of 
popular impulse moved by rumour, or imaginary 
notions of profit to be derived from localites where no 
ore exists. It is, after all, as a cast with dice, an enter- 
prise incited by gambling to win back if a loser, or to 
be more enriched if already successful. 

The works necessary for carrying on the mines and 
extracting the ores cost large sums. A single trench 
for the conveyance of water was sixty miles long, and 
cost a hundred thousand dollars. Mills of all kinds 
had to be erected, particularly stamping mills for 
crushing the quartz, and mercury in many cases was 
purchased to separate the ores. 

But the efforts of labour are not confined to risk of 
capital and want of remuneration on the part of the 
miner. He has to pay his labourer in wages from three 
dollars fifty cents to five dollars per day in some parts 
of California, as in Nevada, for example. The taxes 
laid on by the Government are one-half of one per 
cent, on all bullion assayed. It prohibits any sale, ex- 
change, or working up of what has not been assayed. 
Miners who make a thousand dollars a year, and every 
person or firm employing others, must take out a 
license at a cost of ten dollars. Then come the State 
taxes on the ores, mills, works, and all above ground, 
not inconsiderable in amount. There are one hundred 
and seventy stamping mills in the State of Nevada 
alone. 



THE GOLDEN GA TE. 



In the territory of Oregon the profit of the mines 
for the latest year is estimated at not more than two 
millions of dollars, the product of work by hand. In 
Washington territory the return was not expected to 
be more than half of that in Oregon. 

In Utah, so notorious for the rule of the polygamous 
Brigham Young, coal is found, and traces of lead and 
silver have been discovered, but are not to be wwked. 
A company from New York is said to have esta- 
blished itself about a hundred and sixty miles from the 
Salt Lake city. Montana produces little, but the State 
of Idaho yields about 10,000,000 of dollars from its 
quartz mines. In south-eastern Nevada the veins are 
large, and said to be rich. In Arizona State little 
mining appears to have been carried on. 

To refer to other metals than gold and silver on the 
coast of the Pacific, copper was found twenty-seven 
years ago near Los Angeles. Between 1851 and 1854 
traces of it were again met with, but it was not until 
1855 that it was discovered in ore of fine quality in 
a place called Hope Valley. It was found at San 
Francisco that the ores, green and blue carbonates, 
contained forty per cent, of copper, and were worth 
one hundred and forty dollars per ton. 

In 1860, the preceding discovery having been passed 
over, another was made of copper at Gopher Hills, and 
some ore being raised, was sent to San Francisco, where 
it was valued at one hundred and twenty dollars per ton. 
Soon after a company undertook to work it, called the 
Napoleon Company, since which mines, there and else- 
where, in thirteen different spots, have been worked 

s 



258 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

for copper. Some of the mines are said to produce rich 
ores. The total produced from May, 1863, to Septem- 
ber, 1865, was in all 1,718,885 lbs. weight of ore. The 
first mine has ceased to work, but others have been 
opened at Forest Hill, Mareposa, and elsewhere. Much 
of these ores goes to England to be smelted. From 
1862 to 1866 inclusive 20,151 tons were shipped to 
New York, 25,312 to Boston, and 13,248 to Swansea. 
. The quicksilver mines in California are situated at a 
place called New Almaden. The exports were in flasks 
308,756 in number from July, 1850, to August, 1863. 
The quicksilver occurs in magnesian schists, sometimes 
in calcareous, and rarely in argillaceous. From Novem- 
ber, 1863, to December, 1864, 3,566,200 lbs. were 
produced. 

Borax is also found in California, and a particular 
account of its discovery is given. It has been obtained 
from a territory that bears marks of volcanic action. 
The lake where it is extracted covers several hundred 
acres. Sulphur is met with. Traces of tin have been 
discovered, and coal has been found, but there are dis- 
advantages in working it. Iron has been met with in 
abundance, and of course is largely used. 

Wonderful is this distribution of mineral wealth 
throughout the world. It is one of those marks, and 
not the least obvious, which show the design of the 
Great Former of all things in the way of preparation 
for what was to be developed at a future period, by 
providing for the use of those destined to apply it to 
their purposes. It thus becomes apparent, both as a 
temptation to occupy the land and as a provision for 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 259 

labour, made through the unlimited foreknowledge of 
the Great Designer of all things. 

It is calculated that what the Americans call the 
" Pacific Slope " has an area of 900,000 square miles. 
They divide it into four parts, separated from each 
other by high mountain ranges, which are characterised 
as more adapted for mining than agriculture. The 
territory so denominated rises from five hundred to six 
thousand feet above the sea. The low lands have a 
long strip of vegetation bordering them. In Oregon 
and Washington dense forests cover the mountains. 

The heights on the Pacific Slope have the elevation 
just mentioned, but the Sierra Nevada rises in some 
places much higher. It is on the mountain sides that 
most of the mining operations are performed. The 
lower mining towns there have no snow or ice for more 
than a day or two at a time, while on the highest 
ridges the snow lies for four or five months. Two- 
thirds of the year a cloudless sky is enjoyed, and 110 
rain falls from May to November. Only half the rain 
falls there that falls in New York and Philadelphia in 
a year. Fogs often occur early in the day in summer, 
but soon clear up. Thunder and lightning are rare. 
The climate is one of those in the world most favour- 
able to health. When the coast is left for the interior, 
the moderate temperature kept up by the sea breezes is 
unfelt, and the summers are hotter and the winters 
colder. Thus at Sacramento the former season is 
intensely hot. It is warm even at considerable eleva- 
tions. In the deep ravines the air becomes stagnant, 
and the burning rocks reflect the sun's rays power- 



2 to FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

fully upon the miners. From May to October the ther- 
mometer ranges from 85° to 90°, with a cloudless sky, 
and no showers. The earth appears arid during the 
summer and autumn, but the nights are always cool, 
and most so after midnight. Higher up the mountain 
sides the summer is shorter, and the days cooler. At 
2,500 feet of elevation, frosts will be observed in July ; 
and in the latitude of San Francisco, at an elevation of 
5,000 feet, the snow will remain on the ground for 
seven and eight months together. The snow on the 
Sierra is often from five to ten feet deep in winter. 

At Sacramento, in the lower mining districts, the 
heat is torrid in summer, the mean temperature having 
been above 100° for three months together. The hot 
wind sometimes blisters the skin. The rain increases 
as the country rises in altitude and latitude. At San 
Diego, in 32°, the fall is eleven inches ; at San Fran- 
cisco, in 37 48", it is twenty- two inches ; and at 
Humboldt Bay it is thirty-four inches. Nine inches of 
rain may be added for every thousand feet in altitude. 
The climate, soil, and size of California very much 
resemble those of Old Spain. 

The total number of white miners is 25,750, and of 
Chinese miners 20,806. The quartz miners of gold 
are in number 7,150 ; hydraulic miners, 5,850 ; placer 
miners, 29,550 ; silver miners, 1,300 ; copper miners, 
2,700. The mineral specimens given as existing in 
California are numerous : upwards of a hundred and 
ten are enumerated. Collections of them already exist 
in San Francisco. 

The limit of the gold zone is yet undetermined. It 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 261 

runs into British Columbia, and from thence into 
Russian America, towards the Arctic Sea. The age of 
the gold-bearing slates or rocks in this part of America 
seems to have been determined as of the secondary 
order. 

It was evident that America lost considerable ad- 
vantages by not early laying down some fixed regula- 
tions regarding her mines. The lands here and there 
were torn up, and earth and gravel 'piled over them, 
for the miner did nothing beyond that which would 
contribute to his own want or profit. All done by the 
miner was done for a momentary purpose, and then he 
abandoned one spot for another. The American miner 
became a wanderer to wherever he thought he might 
make new profits, and thus he led a migratory life, to 
the injury of the soil, and his own character as a free 
citizen. The American Government perceived the evil 
of its citizens becoming wanderers, one year to Peru, 
the next to British Columbia, now to Brazil, and then 
to Australia. Men without homes are in the first stage 
of a return to a savage and demoralised life. At a late 
period comparatively the evil was noticed, and an Act 
was passed to grant fee-simple titles to miners, includ- 
ing mines or agricultural lands in mineral districts. 
It was not the wandering, restless, demoralised life that 
men led that was all the mischief; the loss to the 
States in which a population of such a character resided 
was very great in the view of the popular demoralisa- 
tion. All the w T orld heard of outrages and offences 
committed a few years ago in San Francisco from this 
cause. That city now is one of the most peaceful and 



262 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

secure in the world, by day or night, shaming the 
riots, outrages, and unprovoked assaults and breaches 
of morality openly practised in the superior city of the 
States, par excellence, New York. 

The mining regulations, wisely compiled to meet the 
exigency of the time, are numerous, and appear to be 
effectual. Their voluminous character prevents enter- 
ing upon them here. Some could hardly be understood 
without a knowledge of mining in detail. To adjust 
the various claims was no light task. Local customs 
and rules in one district would not pass muster in 
another. There was no appeal for the redress of a 
wrong, no precedent for proceeding rightfully. The 
miner had no protection. Regulations assented to at 
one time were disregarded at another. The authors of 
the Report, therefore, recommended uniformity as to 
mining or land claims, which in one district differed 
from another in a most extraordinary manner. Then 
that the size of grants should be limited, and the 
breadth of the claims more particularly. The necessity 
of a claim being worked was to give the right to hold 
it. Many were thus held and never worked at all. 
The laws were required to be permanent. Mining was 
a lasting labour in a mineral country ; one, too, of such 
extensive superficies. It was contended, and justly, 
that the legislature alone could do what was needful 
to cure abuses and establish uniformity. 

The Report next details the regulations of the Nevada, 
the Sierra, Tuolumne, Sacramento, Columbia, San Juan, 
Pitch Hill, New Kanaka, Copperopolis, and other 
district mines, together with the different statutes and 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 263 

various provisions belonging to them. The mining 
laws of Mexico are quoted, and, as was to be expected, 
are all of Spanish origin, and were sufficiently long. 
A list is added of the different published works on the 
Californian mines. It appears that there have been 
many publications written on the gold discovery. Many 
were mere rambles and personal adventures by such 
persons as visit a country for a few days, return home, 
and then publish accounts of the manners, customs, 
modes of thinking, religion, and moral character of the 
people, of which they really know nothing, except that 
they find the ignorant are entertained by their myths. 
Excluding works published under this empirical conceit, 
of which we have surely had enough, we must turn to 
those of the country or the States themselves, of which 
the titles are given here, as far as they relate to the 
useful, and not to conjecture or presumption. 

The works most useful are eleven or twelve in number. 
Of these Tyson's " Geology and Resources of Cali- 
fornia," Trask " On the Geology of the Sierra Nevada," 
and also his work on the coast mountains, the Report 
of Blake, and that of M. Marcen, of Zurich, the 
geological work of Dr. Newbery, and others, will 
show that some, and no little, attention has been paid 
to this copious subject, and to California generally, as 
a rich mineral country. 

The distance from San Francisco to Victoria, in 
British Columbia, is 753 miles ; to New Westminster, 
in the same territory, 823 miles ; from San Francisco 
overland to New York is 3,417 miles ; and to St. Louis, 
2,279. 



264 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

There is a very interesting paper at the end of the 
volume on the mineral resources of the States, and 
territories east of the Rocky Mountains. It is long, but 
cannot but be read by those who reflect upon the dis- 
covery of the New World, so vast, so interesting, yet 
novel to what is called the Old World ; its inhabit- 
ants, animals, vegetable productions, and scenery, 
for so many ages we presume unknown ; for even 
old Noah himself hardly housed a rattlesnake or pro- 
tected a llama. Reflecting how slow was the advance 
of science among the nations for centuries, during 
which mankind were kept in ignorance by the fear of 
attempting to do what was novel, and could show no 
precedent among their forefathers, we must still marvel 
that the Americas were not before discovered by ad- 
venturers towards the north-west or from the southern 
shores of Greenland. 

We find it was in 1822 that California issued a 
declaration of independence, and from that time became 
lost to Spain. The Report details various efforts made 
to obtain a preponderating influence in California by 
Louis Philippe, of France. A hint, too, is given of a 
jealousy of England by her children, upon the same 
grounds. The volume concludes with a cursory descrip- 
tion of the gold mines east of the Rocky Mountain 
range in West Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Utah, 
Dakota, Saskatchewan, the Yermilion District, and the 
Canadian, Nova Scotian, Alleghany, Yirginian, North 
and South Carolinian, Georgian, and other mines of the 
East. The main interest, however, lies to the west of 
the father of rivers, the great Mississippi. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 265 

The mystery amid all this increase of production in 
the precious metals is, that gold has not been affected 
in price like other commodities when they become more 
plentiful. This is a point which remains to be cleared 
up satisfactorily. 

Early in May I embarked at ISTew York in the steamer 
which was to convey me to the shores of England. 
Immediately upon treading her deck we were favour- 
ably impressed by the polite replies of the old "salt" 
to whom we accidentally addressed some inquiries 
respecting the bestowal of our luggage, and his 
deferential tone and manner. This we were pleased 
to find, during our voyage across the Atlantic, was 
the characteristic of all on board in the employ of the 
owners. In short, to adopt the expression of a lively 
little Knickerbocker, we felt very quickly as if we were 
"at home." It may or may not have been that the 
English carry their beautiful and peculiar love of " home 
comfort" even into the economy of their ships ; certain 
it was we felt it, and enjoyed particularly the additional 
"invalid's meal," as I termed it, of tea and dry toast 
(butter, of course, ad lib.), which was served an hour 
and a half after dessert had been dismissed, and for 
which we ladies would fain have exchanged our third 
and last meal (dinner) in the American vessels. Tea 
was the fourth meal served in the British boat, and to 
those who were unable to eat in the earlier part of the 
day it was a great desideratum, with its cosy array 
of tea and coffee-pots, steaming urns, and glittering 
toast-racks. 

Nothing of special moment occurred during our 



266 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

yoyage across the Atlantic beyond the excessive cold 
encountered in the region of icebergs east of New- 
foundland, and the commemoration of the birthday 
of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of 
Great Britain and Empress of India, which, if not 
celebrated in a mode calculated to excite rapturous 
emotions among the creme de la creme, of whom Her 
Majesty is as much sovereign by her love of that 
simplicity which is the unfailing attribute of noble 
souls as she is by birth, it was commemorated by all 
classes and nationalities on board with a heartiness 
and in a way that evidenced the high esteem in which 
she is held by the world, no less than the sincere 
love of her subjects. "The Star-spangled Banner " 
was called for by an Englishman, " God save the 
Queen" by an American, and "Her Majesty's health " 
was given by a genial - hearted old gentleman, a 
Catholic priest, and a son of that isle whose Catholic 
children are so wrongly counted the bitterest enemies 
of the British crown. It was drunk with "three 
times three." An admiring San Franciscan added a 
call for a " tiger " — a word the meaning of which 
is an extra yell of excessive delight at the close of 
the cheering. Champagne-corks flew freely, but, as 
became the occasion, the utmost decorum prevailed, 
and the representatives of the various nationalities, 
mutually pleased, retired at twelve o'clock to their 
respective state-rooms. 

Late one afternoon all the passengers flocked on 
deck as the bold headlands of the Emerald Isle rose in 
sight, deficient indeed in wood, but crowned to the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 267 

very edge of tlie cliffs, or occasionally in glens down 
to the sea, with fields of young grain and pasture 
land, evidencing a thrift and prosperity for which 
their Transatlantic friends were totally unprepared. 
Expressions of surprise among them were rife as the 
neat little white cottages of the peasantry were seen 
here and there clothing the cliffs, cresting the brows, 
or mantling the sides of the bold heights as they 
towered above the sea. 

The beautiful little harbour of Queenstown reached, 
the company's tender swiftly approached our sides, 
as we did not enter the larger harbour of Cork. 
Several passengers, among whom was our friendly 
companion, the good father, quitted us at this point. 
The mail was also transferred to the custody of a 
mail agent, and with a parting cheer to our friends 
left there, our stately vessel shaped her course for her 
ultimate destination, Liverpool, where she arrived the 
following day. 

The contrast presented by its magnificent docks of 
ponderous granite to the rotting woodwork of the 
wretched piers of New York made a great impression 
on those who had never seen them before. One 
elderly dame — the Ophelia of our passenger party — 
leaned over the side of the vessel in amazement as we 
entered lock after lock on the way to our moor- 
ings, or rather resting-place. She pointed out with 
astonishment the immense size of the granite blocks 
of which the docks were composed in the sides and 
piers. 

" Surely/' she exclaimed, " the English people must 



268 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

build for their children's children, while we only build 
for ourselves." 

"True, aunty," thought I, " and if John and 
Jonathan would but get over some of their ridiculous 
jealousies, and make themselves acquainted with each 
other's excellencies, they might cement a mutual 
regard, only to be attained, however, by visits such 
as you and I are, or have been, paying." 

Just after this sage remark we were obliged to 
turn our attention to the necessities of disembarcation. 
We soon afterwards passed through the Custom-house 
scrutiny, and found the officers as civil and obliging, 
when they must have seen we had no intention to 
deceive, as we found them in America, neither of them 
as " black as they are painted," perhaps by those who 
are conscious of some desire to act crookedly. Should I 
have cause to reverse my judgment on this point in 
any future disembarcation, I may be tempted to record 
it, either as regards England or America ; I now only 
state a simple truth as far as my humble judgment 
will justify me. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 269 



CHAPTER XIY. 

JOURNEY OP W TO THE WEST IN THE EAP.LLER TIME — THE 8TART 

FROM CHICAGO A CONVOY OF SAINTS INDIAN ANECDOTES AND 

ATTACKS— GERMAN EMIGRATION — MEETINGS OF THE BRETHREN — ■ 

SPLENDID SUNSETS — LABOURS OF THE PEOPLE — MOSQUITO ATTACKS 

EXCESSIVE HEAT — FALSE ALARMS — THE CHIMNEY ROCK — FORT LARAMIE 
— DANGER FROM WOLVES — MOUNTAIN-RANGE SCENE — REACH THE 
SALT LAKE VALLEY — PROCEED TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

I shall not err in subjoining here some particulars 
of a journey to San Francisco, via the Salt Lake City, 
from Chicago, several years subsequently to Mr. Kelly's 

journey, by a route somewhat similar. Mr. W ■ 

travelled across the continent, making that part of the 
distance thus mentioned with a caravan of the devotees 
of the new religion of Joseph Smith's originating ; 
on whose death Brigham Young led Smith's disciples 
to the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains, where they 
fouDded the Salt Lake City, the new leader adding 
to Smith's articles of faith those especial tenets for 
which he has become so famous. How the pioneers, 
and those who followed them in an undertaking so 
arduous at the earlier time of the settlement, explored 
their way, not without danger of death from want 
aud the wild Indian, and this for some thousand miles 
from the Atlantic, I well knew, but not so fully as I 
learned at a later period. For the present detail I 



270 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

was indebted to Mr. W — - — , a native of Scotland, 
who, though not enrolled among the " faithful/ ' 
travelled at an early date in a waggon train in their 
company towards the Rocky Mountains, which he 
crossed. He was far from regarding the " Saints " 
with prejudice, for they treated him with great civility. 
"Other sects/' he said, "believed things almost as 
absurd. These people will sober down by-and-by." 
It must be observed that this remark was made some 
years ago. Since then, great changes have been 
effected, and the road has become quite a highway 
thither. The facilities of journeying, too, are no longer 
so difficult to obtain. Even at the time to which I 
allude it must have demanded a stern resolution to 
conduct a number of persons — men, women, and 
children — such a distance on a trackless road to a 
desert solitude, among mountains explored only by 
the Indian and the white hunter, by the semi- civilised 
and the lawless. Thus will ambition oftentimes lead 
men to strange adventures, of which the present was 
no unworthy example for record. Of the peculiar 
nature of the faith so attractive I can pretend to 
give no opinion. Censure of religious freedom or 
persecution for conscience' sake, after the example 
of persecutors everywhere, I should feel pain in imi- 
tating. Let all men judge for themselves in what 
equally concerns themselves alone. 

Mr. "W having business of importance at 

Chicago, which he completed much more to his satis- 
faction than he had contemplated, met with a convoy 
of "Saints" bound to the promised land, and as he 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 271 

intended to visit the Sandwich Islands, via San 
Francisco, by adventuring across the continent in 
place of proceeding by sea from New York, he joined 
the " chosen vessels " on their way to the Salt 
Lake, taking the directions of one of the leaders 
of the convoy for his own outfit, which he speedily 
completed — a waggon, oxen, bedding, rifle, and such 
things as would render his transit comfortable. He 
did not calculate on making more than a dozen miles 
in the day, and, therefore, foresight was careful 
to provide comforts proportionate, even to cooking 
utensils. Travellers in this mode could complete their 
journey with comparative comfort. It will hardly be 
credited that some of the poorer brethren and sisters 
undertook the same journey on foot, pushing hand- 
carts before them, in which their infants and scanty 
luggage were placed, reposing at night under the 
canopy of heaven for months together, exposed to 
malaria and chill. Day after day did they drag their 
miserable vehicles the enormous distance, exposed to 
a sun almost tropical at noon, and proportionably chill 
at night. How many fell victims to the enterprise 
can never be known ! Day after day they perished, 
or dragged their vehicles, happily without a know- 
ledge and therefore without a presentiment, of the 
doom that might be in reserve for them. 

I cannot undertake here to note more than a few lead- 
ing incidents among those thus described to me. Much 
that is painful I suppress, and this is less to be re- 
gretted, as even the most painful descriptions of suffer- 
ing pass out of remembrance too quickly. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



The traveller from the East joined the " convoy " a 
little way in advance of the city. He found the leaders 
of the brethren civil and obliging to himself, " Gentile >r 

as he was, nor did Mr. W repent of his resolution. 

All was new, and novelty is with some an irresistible 
attraction. For several days there was much that was 
preparatory going forward. It was hard work with 
the leaders to establish order, and prevent rules from 
being broken. Some of the leaders had passed and 
repassed the same route more than once. At length 
all was in trim, and the time was beguiled by con- 
versation about the new creed and its implied duties, 
stories of escapes from the Indians, and similar topics, 
with acts of revenge by the whites no way to their 
credit, the Indians naturally being always in the 
wrong ! One story related by a smart elder of the 
faith showed what narrow escapes many of the adven- 
turers had in that early time of their journeyings to 
the West. Some of the Yankee devotees, only four or 
five in number, left their camp on horseback. They 
were fortunately very well mounted. A few miles 
away they encountered twenty mounted Indians at a 
place where the road took a sharp bend. Seeing their 
position, they cut across the bend, and thus got into the 
rear of the Indians. Fortunate it was they were 
well horsed ; one was upon a trained racer that had 
cleared sixteen feet at a leap. The Indians yelled 
savagely, and let fly their arrows. Fast indeed did 
the whites urge spur and rein. Their lives hung 
on a thread. They soon saw that the ground 
widened between them and the red men. Observing 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 273 



this, they turned in the saddle, waved their caps at 
the Indians in derision, and got back safe from the 
tomahawk to their encampment. 

To show what hazards even the convoys ran when 
not strong, one of the leaders related that thirty 
waggons and sixty men were one day on the way 
to the westward, accompanied by some of the Sioux 
Indians, enemies of the Pawnees. The former said 
that the Pawnees intended to attack the convoy, but 
they should not, for that they, the Sioux, would burn 
their wigwams. The convoy approached a place called 
" Loup Fork." Five of the number, who had acted as 
scouts, declared the country clear of Indians, as far as 
they could observe it. " Are the Indian corn-fields 
clear ?" (Some of these lay not far off.) The reply was 
in the affirmative. The party now thought the Sioux 
had deceived them, and went on. Presently two 
thousand Pawnees uprose from among the high corn, 
and gave the war-whoop. The bullock-trains were 
hurried up into squares of four, each facing outwards. 
Scarcely was this done, and almost before the party 
could place their backs to the waggons, ready for a hope- 
less defence, when the Indians came down upon them, 
certain of their prey. All must have fallen, when out 
of their usual custom the first Indian addressed the 
interpreters of the whites, who told them the Sioux 
were close upon them, and burning their wigwams. 

" It's a lie ! it's a lie ! " they cried, and at once 
approached nearer to their prey. The massacre of all 
the pari}'- seemed inevitable. The Indians repeated 
their yells and war-dances. On a sudden, one of 

T 



274 , FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

the white party, "who himself related the incident, said 
that he did not feel afraid, for the thought flashed upon 
him, " Your time is come, make the most of it." The 
Indians brandished their tomahawks, and only matched 
for the chief's word to make the onset. Just then one 
of the whites who had been looking out earnestly to- 
wards the point where the Pawnee wigwams and village 
stood, seeing the smoke, shouted, "Hurrah, boys, the 
Pawnee wigwams are in flames ! " There lay all the 
property the Pawnees possessed — wives, children, and 
dwellings. A great volume of smoke arose into the 
air. The Sioux had been faithful to their words. The 
whites were saved ; for the Pawnees hurried off to find 
only their smoking dwellings, and captive families 
most probably by that time some distance away. Such 
were the hazards the " Saints " ran in obedience to the 
law of their wary leader in the earlier time of their 
pilgrimages. 

In some cases the whites were not so fortunate. One 
of those who had been allured by the great apostle and 
his followers, and had abandoned the world through 
credulity as to the history of the golden plates — in other 
words, an apostate, but apparently a good kind of man, 
though he was reported only so beyond the sanctum — 
stated that in one case of Indian attack he had known 
of a party not one of which had escaped the hatchets 
of the red men. 

Many were the hairbreadth hazards thus related. 
The scalps of a man, woman, and of several children, 
killed by the Cheyenne Indians, were found, and their 
waggon half burned. Cattle were stolen from parties 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



275 



which the Indians did not venture to attack openly. 
Some of the pilgrims were victims to their own temerity 
in venturing to travel in parties of only two or three 
together, and fell an easy prey. 

" "Wlien we halted for a day to give the cattle an 

occasional rest," the narrator, Mr. W , said, " I 

met with a German convert, who entertained me much 
with his accounts of his native country, to which he 
showed still how much he was attached, for a tear often 
stole down his cheek as he-made allusions to it. It is 
remarkable what a torrent of Germans pours in one 
constant stream into the United States at the present 
time. They have continued, and will continue to do 
so. In San Francisco, with his heavy movements, good- 
nature, and beer-drinking, the German is familiar. 
He seldom or never talks of returning home, while he 
always expresses his attachment to his fatherland. 
The truth is that he had felt when at home disgusted 
and oppressed. The petty tyranny exercised over his 
actions by his rulers in some of the States was grinding. 
As the popular mind expands, freedom is there rather 
contracted than expanded by the petty satraps that 
govern. The German had no free will to act upon 
objects most material to his comfort, on points without 
which, and free action, life is slavery. 

" This Teutonic fellow-traveller entertained us on our 
way not only with incidents he had himself encountered 
at home, but with those which had occurred to others. 
We thus journeyed day after day, for several months, 
with a great sameness of incident, relieved in some 
measure by the difference in the aspect of the country. 



FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



Here were almost interminable levels, there the land 
was undulating like huge waves ; here it was mono- 
tonous and dull, there novel and peculiar. There was 
also much for the naturalist and geologist to study. 
One place appeared like some remembered spot in the 
old country, or like the northern counties of England, 
for example. Prairies, barrens, wooded scenery, levels 
covered with wild herbage, often varied, and at times 
beautiful. Some spots were excellent for pasture, others 
full of young trees, sprung up, they told me, since the 
Indians had fired the woods to clear their hunting- 
grounds. Sometimes, but rarely, we fell in with a log- 
hut, inhabited by a solitary man, his wife, and children. 
Horses were grazing near by the rude habitation, the 
property of the inmates, and generally so fine in form 
and breed as to contrast singularly in their excellent 
appearance with those at the westward of the continent 
seen afterwards. The inhabitants were right hospitable, 
and set before the stranger in one place tea, molasses, 
milk, bread, and beef- steaks. The settlers' table here 
beat that of the inhabitants who are situated on the 
Pacific side of the great backbone of mountains that 
divide North America into two distinct parts ; distinct, 
too, as to climate and appliances similar to the present. 
Yet was the cot itself miserable enough. The roof 
leaked ; the floor was of loose boards, so loose that 
strangers were cautioned where they put their feet. 
Two lovely children also inhabited the dwelling in that 
remote spot. The inmates lived upon the produce 
of the land, and our host expressed his hope that 
new settlers would soon come to relieve them of their 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 2JJ 



solitude. The contrast between their patriarchal sup- 
port drawn wholly from the land, and that afterwards 
observed so slovenly in the mining country to the west- 
ward, could not but strike the stranger as remarkable. 

" The appearance of the people, and of the females 
particularly, was strictly American in taste, as a white 
jacket, white bonnet, and pink skirts clearly showed. 
Some of the scenes near this place formed lovely 
pictures of natural wildness and tranquil beauty. One 
of these wild spots in particular lay on the edge of a 
transparent stream, studded with green islands, grace- 
fully wooded, while timber of majestic appearance as 
to size and form drooped beautifully over the trans- 
parency beneath. 

" It was on one of the most beautiful evenings I ever 
saw that the members of this community I was accom- 
panying halted on a similar spot in the wild. There it 
was they held one of their new religious meetings. It 
was attended by all the brethren, except those upon 
guard, who were placed some distance off, in order to give 
timely warning of danger. I had never witnessed such 
a scene before. The picturesque beauty of the spot, 
the open air, and nature in tranquil sweetness around, 
reminded me that it must be like some of the scenes 
chosen for the earlier Christian worship, as performed 
upon olive- covered mounts, amid the sanctity of nature, 
in place of the gloom of Gothic arches and the effluvia 
from the charnels beneath magnificent buildings of the 
earlier ages. The scene was perfect in that simplicity, 
as far as outward appearance went, which is an attrac- 
tion in every faith as an accompaniment. As to the 



2;5 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

sincerity of the worship or its character, I had no 
means of investigation, or time to spare for a disqui- 
sition npon it, nor ability, if I had, to perform it. I 
can only say that the scene was to myself novel and 
impressive as to picturesque effect. I heard no invo- 
cation of those golden plates which mortal eyes have 
still to behold. There was nothing worthy of record, 
nothing new except what related to the living brethren, 
but still the scene was novel from the locality. It was 
impossible to play the infidel in the silent sermon 
preached there by nature, if that of the ' new creed ' 
were no more than a ' tinkling cymbal.' 

" I shall never forget the beauty of that evening as it 
closed in with the dying light. My German friend 
seemed moved by it. The moon rose and ' walked in 
brightness' up the sky, casting down between the 
trees streams of liquid silver. I was half a Saint, made 
so by the eye, rather than the ear, for the orisons 
offered up were sadly common-place. I no longer 
doubted that the holy men of the early ages imbibed 
from nature in Eastern lands much of that spirit which 
devotion in unison with it alone exhibits, and is thus 
more readily felt and goes deeper into the soul. But 
even here, at such a moment, the fiction of the ' plates ' 
and the ' angelic characters ' was too much to credit, 
and did not, at a moment so apparently auspicious for 
the purpose, incline me to look favourably upon the 
faith. Still it was a striking scene taking place in 
that seclusion, and it would be untrue to deny that my 
feelings were not a little worked upon, more by the 
secondary objects than by that primary one of the 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 279 

sentiment of the worship. Who would desire to resist 
such a feeling, even with such wild notions ? Wonder- 
ful were the toil and labour these people underwent 
under the impression of a religious duty, of which their 
own narrow convictions could only be founded upon 
the assumptions of others, who were deep designers, 
being taken for granted. Well may the thinking and 
reasoning exclaim in behalf of a large part of the world, 
after Goethe, ' Light, light, more light ! ' Such were 
the ideas that crossed my sensorium at that moment. 

" I must do these people justice as far as I observed 
them in their imperturbability under worship, and the 
sincerity, at least, of the more ignorant among them. 
The sneers of half-lettered travellers who came in their 
way at that early time were at least superfluous. Thev 
seemed truly charitable to each other, more so than 
most Christians ; and if they are not acute enough to 
detect the fallacy of their new faith, though numbers 
have done it, becoming, as it were, clear-sighted in the 
matter, they are still deserving of respect for their 
disinterested brotherhoodship. 

" The pilgrims were all marshalled duly, as I should 
have before remarked, in bodies of forty or fifty. Each 
band was under a controlling head, or overseer, who 
was evidently the superior man of the party which he 
conducted. These leaders, if they may be so called, 
underwent incredible fatigue without any other chance 
of reward than their zeal in the service. This they 
expected would bring them in the approval of their 
church, and being the superior men on the pilgrimage 
was gratifying to their ambition. They spared no 



28o FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

labour, argued with the opinionated, soothed the suffer- 
ing, and compelled the obstinate in a mode well adapted 
to their objects and creditable to themselves. They 
were evidently men in earnest, if deficient in judgment, 
and credulous in their religious belief. 

" I saw the leaders run up and down the sides of steep 
hills, urging on the teams, the thermometer at 90°. 
I also remarked their great fatigue incurred in mar- 
shalling their companies. We were at that time travel- 
ling over many beautiful wild flowers, and among them 
I noticed the golden rod and gentian ella. It was a 
spectacle calculated to please a botanist. Here, too, 
now and then, we came to a dwelling, the settlement of 
some, as yet, solitary family of a very humble kind. 
This spot was about fifty miles from some bluffs by the 
Missouri, the name of which my informant could not 
recall, but I soon found he meant what are called 
Council Bluffs, not far from Florence Town, a place at 
that time not of great moment, though from the 
situation likely to grow into one of considerable 
importance. 

" We had here what the travellers call a stampedo, or 
the bullocks unharnessed taking flight and scampering 
off in all directions, often knocking down or trampling 
upon all in their way. It required much trouble on 
these occasions, and even considerable danger, to recover 
them. Ague and fever began here to attack the 
travellers. 

"On reaching Council Bluffs, with their appendage of 
the new town near by above-named, we found every- 
thing in the way of purchase very dear, except tools 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 281 

and shoes, of which there was a good stock. We rested 
here for several days, when I made some fresh acquaint- 
ances among the ' Saints.' 

" We crossed the muddy and shallow Missouri at a 
ferry where the soil had a ferruginous appearance, but 
the road was far better than we could have expected. 
A terrible thunder-storm overtook us here. It was as 
if all the batteries of heaven had opened upon us at 
once. This happened inopportunely, and just as we 
were about to move onwards. 

" We were now become more immediately exposed to 
the depredations and attacks of the Indian tribes that 
might chance to be hostile, as day by day we drew 
nearer to their encampments. I should have said before 
that, after leaving Chicago, I had proceeded to 
Marengo, in Iowa. The railroad was not then open to 
Florence and the Bluffs. After crossing the Missouri our 
principal care was to travel so as to secure a successful 
resistance in case of attack from Indians. We were as 
strong as we desired in numbers, but it was necessary 
to comprehend what should be our mode of action in 
case of attack, as no less than three different tribes 
hunted over the ground which we were crossing, and 
we heard as many tribes were in the country before us, 
encamped or otherwise ; not at all pleasant intelligence. 
We also met a waggon belonging to emigrants return- 
ing to the West, and some of the authorities overtook 
us going in the opposite direction. These were on their 
way to the Great Salt Lake, travelling too fast for us 
to keep up with them. We soon afterwards met the 
first Indian, a solitary, and shook hands with him. 



282 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

" Here we were obliged to halt for a time, as rain had 
fallen, and the waters were out. We went on at last, 
reached Platte river, near which we encamped, and 
for two or three days proceeded without any notable 
incident, and so on for a week more. -We then pre- 
pared to strike off into the country, before which, 
water being short, we passed some pits, but only found 
a little water in one of them, scarcely enough to suffice 
us. Our journey now lay over a dreary, monotonous 
prairie for a whole week. Neither bush nor shrub was 
to be seen as far as the eye could command the land- 
scape. In some places were low sandy ridges, over 
which there grew a low scrubby grass. 

" Though when in the East I had heard of the beauty 
of the Western sunsets, and of the evening in that 
region, I had hitherto been disappointed. That night 
its beauty exceeded my utmost fancy of such a scene of 
glory. It was a scene that might be taken for heaven. 
The whole sky, as the sun got low in the horizon, 
became overspread with an intense blue, most radiant 
to the eastward. There it was seen blending with and 
falling off into a beautiful pink colour of exquisite 
delicacy, and then changing into violet, from the midst 
of which the silver moon rose, amid such a peculiar scene 
of glory as I never had beheld in the heavens before. 
This glorious colour was rendered the more remarkable 
as it contrasted with a line of sandy bluffs, beneath 
which all had assumed a deep orange hue. Never did 
I see the earth arrayed in such exquisite beauty — a 
beauty, too, so peculiar, and yet so unlike any I had 
ever seen before. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 283 

" We were doomed after that glorious sight, and ' a 
beauty so peculiar/ to feel the mortifying meanness of 
contrast but too sensibly. We were attacked after sun- 
down and cruelly suffered from clouds on clouds of 
mosquitoes. Hundreds came swarming into the 
vehicles in which we slept. In vain did I extinguish 
the light in the hope to put an end to my sufferings. I 
then re-lighted the candle, placing it outside, when the 
insects literally ' clustered ' round it ; but, unfortu- 
nately, the wind extinguished it. It was too warm to 
sleep under thick clothing, while thin was pierced 
through and through by the proboscis of the blood- 
suckers, or ' lawyers,' as some called them. The open 
air then seemed the only refuge ; but the day had been 
warm, and in the cold night it was hazardous to sleep, 
on account of fever ensuing, generally severe and full 
of danger in its attacks. Amidst all the suffering, it 
was ludicrous to hear, in the still midnight on these 
vast wilds, the exclamations that issued from the 
different waggons — the cries, sometimes sad moans, 
and then doleful interjections. The cause was but too 
well ' felt.' One individual came out, declaring he 
could stand it no longer and keep in life. Another said 
he would mount guard willingly against the Indians, 
but he could not undertake to mount guard against 
those within more sanguinary creatures — he could 
not be a mosquito-sentry. Many, in defiance of the 
night and fever, fatigued, too, with the labour of the 
previous day, lay down on the grass, and were with* 
difficulty forced back to their beds to prevent a still 
greater calamity. One or two proposed to go and sleep 



2 84 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

in water to the chin, with something over their heads 
impervious to the inordinate blood-suckers. 

" The next night affairs were not much better, it being 
passed near "Wood river, a small clear stream, with 
steep, well-timbered banks to a considerable extent, 
running through a plain stretching far away into the 
distance, so that it grew faint and seemed to mingle 
with or melt into the sky. One day passed at this spot 
was so intensely warm, that sleep seemed to be the only 
resource. I attempted to write, but was unable. I 
scarcely knew how I should exist. The next morning 
we came upon the trail of a large Indian encampment. 
Hard by, to our horror, were the graves of several 
white people, known to have been murdered by Indians. 
We saw none, very fortunately, as we passed by that 
melancholy spot. The poor women seemed exhausted 
from the heat, for they could scarcely be got to con- 
verse, and it must be confessed the temperature was 
overpowering. We were now about two hundred and 
twenty miles from Florence and the bluffs to the west- 
ward. One of our number descried some pencil lines 
on a bleached buffalo's skull, stating that a party of 
' Saints ' had gone by there three days before. 

" We now fell in again with the Platte river, and at 
no great distance from Fort Kearney. The individuals 
stationed there recommended caution, as the Cheyenne 
Indians were prowling in the vicinity, and hostile. A 
company that had passed just before had been robbed 
by them of thirty head of cattle. 

"The next day we encamped near some standing 
water. I saw what in the East is called a ' mirage ' 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 285 

for the first time. Reading, and by chance looking up 
from my book, I fancied I saw on the verge of the 
horizon a flock of wolves. Yet all the nearer ground 
was clear enough almost to the horizon line. Then the 
objects changed, and I fancied I saw a lake and trees. 
It would be difficult to credit that all was not real, if 
at intervals the objects did not assume a wavy motion 
when steadily observed. Sometimes it seemed in 
motion, and to come stealing along over the surface of 
the ground. The way was still by the Platte river. 
We were delayed here three days by rain and an accident 
to a waggon, during which we met a party going east- 
ward, that gave a good account of the prospects of the 
Saints and sinners bound to the Yalley on the ames 
track as ourselves. We met with nothing to alarm us, 
except one night that some musket- shots were fired, 
that seemed to proceed from one side of the square 
formed by the waggons for keeping in the cattle. One 
of the guards said he had seen a man pass, wrapped up 
in a blanket, who did not reply to a triple challenge. 
It was believed not to have been an Indian, as was at 
first apprehended, but it set us all on the alert. 

" Our course still continued along the banks of the 
Platte, which was shallow, with bluffs on each side ; 
the shores were sandy. 

" Some Indians, few in number, calling themselves 
Navahaws, but suspected to be Cheyennes, were sud- 
denly met. Ten or twelve of the party, with rifles in 
hand, went up to them for a ' talk/ and they seemed 
to take some alarm in consequence. 

" We continued our journey until we came in sight of 



286 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

what was called the Chimney Hock, a very remarkable 
object. At almost the same moment, another party of 
Brigham's Saints was seen, bound for the Valley. 
They encamped on the other side of the river, opposite 
the singular rock of sandstone above-named. This 
formation rises, like an obelisk, far above an uneven 
and irregular ridge of the same kind of sandstone, 
which the Spaniards, with good reason, I mean as to 
the bare ridge itself, would call a ' sierra/ for so they 
denominate a range of hills or mountains, from their 
saw-like unevennesses. Here, however, the shapes 
were fantastic and irregular, prolonged in ridges 
intermingled with points, but not very acute. They 
were evidently shaped by the rains washing away the 
earth. This ridge lay wholly near the Platte river. 

" Some of the party, having crossed the stream, met a 
dozen waggons, with an escort and a paymaster- general, 
on their way to Fort Laramie. Two officers of the 
escort visited us, and brought intelligence that the 
Cheyenne Indians were trying to make a treaty with 
the commander-in-chief at the Fort. They were said 
to have confessed several murders of which they had 
been suspected guilty. These officers inquired the 
number of our men travelling to the prophet's head- 
quarters in the convoy, and were told a hundred armed. 
At the same time no less than sixteen waggons passed 
eastwards bound to the States. It appeared that they 
had some travellers with them who had repudiated the 
apostleship of Brigham, and his own peculiar doctrine 
of the harem. A military mail was travelling eastward 
in their company. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 287 

" I had thought the Chimney Rock so curious an 
object, that, on passing its meridian, I went and made 
a sketch of it. I was by no means pleased to find that 
a number of wolves had been approaching me without 
my perceiving them. I was nearly four miles from 
the camp, but they were between, and consequently 
nearer to the camp than myself. I had set off an 
hour ahead of the train of waggons, in order to sketch 
it. The wind, too, took the scent towards the camp. One 
wolf was shot at. Two of the party at once rode over 
to me at the rock in consequence. It is a hundred feet 
high, stands alone, and is plainly seen to be formed by 
the disintegration of the sandstone. 

" I also observed some bluffs which they called 
' Scott's Bluffs.' We met a drove of horses from 
California soon after passing those bluffs. These are a 
stupendous elevation of the surface of the ground, 
raised, it is probable, by an earthquake or some great 
natural convulsion. At a distance, too, Laramie's Peak 
rose loftily. 

" Fort Laramie, now so called, was near. It stood, 
they said, where Fort John had formerly been. On 
reaching it, we found it consisted of a square of barracks. 
The house in the centre, on one side of the square, 
being of wood, was the only good dwelling. This was 
devoted to the officers. I posted a letter or two there, 
and sketched the ' Fort,' as it is denominated. It was 
eight o'clock in the morning, and as I endeavoured to 
use my pencil, it was with difficulty ; the cold was too 
severe at that elevation, and I could not satisfy myself. 
The officers were gentlemanly men, and exceedingly 



288 t FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

civil, though well aware that most of the convoy were 
of the new faith. I found that various goods and 
stores were kept there, being safe 'under the shadow 
of a military establishment. The commander was 
Colonel Hoffmann, a very urbane and kind man, of 
agreeable address. 

" The country from thence continued to improve, 
becoming more and more picturesque, with hills grass- 
covered, brushwood, and pine or cedar. The road lay 
between high cliffs of white, dotted in the clefts and 
hollows with darker soil. I observed in one place the 
grave of an Indian child a few yards only out of the 
road. It was composed of a number of withies stuck 
into the ground, forming a sort of cage, united at the 
top, within which lay the body. Thus nature speaks 
in all countries the same feeling towards the departed, 
ever indicating the expectation of some unknown pro- 
longed existence — the 'longing after immortality' 
— though 'shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon 
it.' 

" The road now continued undulating, the soil cal- 
careous, but destitute of good grass, except in nooks and 
dells near the rivulets. The hills were generally 
wooded. Wild sage and prickly pear became common, 
and were, in fact, the chief vegetable productions. On 
this road we overtook again poorer disciples of the 
prophet, who travelled to the promised land dragging 
along hand-carts, in which was all their wealth. Num- 
bers were down with fever and exhaustion. It may be 
imagined what they suffered, travelling so many hun- 
dreds of miles, exposed to the elements by day and 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 289 

night. Now they were about crossing a stream, 
intending to proceed five miles further before resting. 
To see the poor sufferers nearly exhausted, and wading 
through the chilling water, and weakly women, too, 
dragging or pushing the wretched carts, the children 
piteously crying, and the haggard faces of the men, 
almost worn down, with no canopy but the heavens, 
was most pitiful, most painful. How many victims 
thus succumbed it would be worth knowing. A severe 
snow-storm had just taken place, to enhance the misery 
of these poor creatures. Some of the men of our party, 
when we overtook them, carried numbers over the river 
on horseback, half-perished with the inclemency of the 
weather. It was a painful sight to witness, and led me 
to wonder how any delusion could lead reasonable 
beings to encounter such misery as these poor creatures 
underwent, prompted to do so without regard to aught 
but populating a wild by those interested in its being 
colonised. 

" The country continued much the same in character, 
but it was not long before we found the ground infested 
with black ants and hideous, nauseous crickets, to our 
great annoyance. Still, it bore a pleasing appearance 
to the eye in many places. We crossed a branch of the 
Platte, for I was informed it was still that stream, or a 
feeder of it. Here, not far from the water, we rested 
ourselves. The day was excessively warm ; yet we 
found the night cool to a trying degree. The truth 
was, we were not awake to the elevation of the ground 
over which we were travelling. This was some 
thousand feet above the ocean level — we were told no 

u 



290 , FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

less than six thousand. It accounted, too, for the cold. 
The rate at which we travelled was slow, and had not 
been unpleasant until now, when we got among the 
mountain lands, where some of the party suffered from 
what is called - mountain fever.' I am unaware of its 
nature; but my German friend recommended me to 
keep up my spirits, and gave me an aperient just about 
the time we passed the Green river, which was not 
three hundred yards wide, and flowed here at a spot 
three hundred miles from Fort Laramie. 

"We next came to a large tract of ground covered 
with wild sage, and at length reached a station denomi- 
nated Fort Bridger, after travelling across a wild waste 
of country. Here I thought we were about to rest 
for a short interval, but it was not a spot sufficiently 
attractive or convenient. The ' Fort/ as it was then 
oddly enough named, consisted of a few huts built and 
connected after the manner of the country, including 
a workshop or two, and sundry stores. I am told that 
since then it has been greatly improved. 

" After leaving the ' Fort/ the road led towards 
Muddy Fork, an affluent, I believe, of the Black River 
Fork ; and on the way we found good feeding for the 
oxen. We next crossed Bear river, turning from 
south to north. On one spot here for a considerable 
space the ground was covered with wild flowers, and 
we halted to repair the waggons, which had become 
much dilapidated. We had nothing to amuse us, and 
little to admire bat the distant mountain prospect, 
which was really noble. 

" As we approached nearer to the renowned City of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



the Saints, through ' canons ' or deep hollows among 
the mountains, we crossed several streams. In one or 
two places where we halted, we found more rattle- 
snakes than we had seen in all the former part of our 
journey. We destroyed several, and thought it fortu- 
nate that no accident from them took place. Formid- 
able as they are, they always avoid using their deadly 
power, unless attacked or trod upon. They are a very 
ugly species of the reptile kind. I doubt if our mother 
Eve would have fallen in love with a snake of this 
species, however strongly Moses may have insisted 
upon the fact of the lady's passion for that species of 
the animal creation. We were sadly jolted on some 
of the roads after we entered the up-and-down passes. 
Many and hard were the labours the animals under- 
went here ; now ascending for long distances to descend 
into hollows ; sometimes winding for a short space, 
and then plunging deeply to ascend again. So steep 
was it at times, that the animals could with great 
difficulty bear the downward pressure. The distant 
mountains were grandly snow-capped, and took all 
kinds of forms at the summits. Nature everywhere 
displayed that inimitable greatness so impressive to 
the observer, as to cause an admiring silence, when 
here and there some new scene comes suddenly into 
view. In certain difficult places we expected that a 
general crash could not be escaped. 

" At length, having nearly passed the first moun- 
tainous range which opened from the hollow or canon 
through which, up and down, the road lay, we came 
upon a broad, treeless plain, which lay between the 



292 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

place from which, we emerged and the noble mountain 
range on the other side. This was the renowned 
valley of the Great Salt Lake, a part of which was 
visible northwards, shining in the sun, and at length 
we reached the expected city, which had anything 
but an agreeable aspect. It must be recollected,, how- 
ever, that this was at an early period of the occupation. 
The grounds were marked out in allotments upon a 
plan that betrayed nothing more than very common- 
place ability. There was a want of all that a fair 
amount of time and labour would probably bestow 
upon it. What I saw, however, led me to believe that 
no very refined taste existed among the superiors in 
the new faith. The people were civil and obliging. 
They placed before us the best they could muster in 
the form of refreshment, and I obtained quarters for 
a few days in the family of a Saint whose establishment 
was sober, neat, and clean. Evidence clearly existed 
that within doors the affairs were directed by female 
management and good housewifery. As I could learn 
nothing new here regarding the Saints, and found that 
the local doings of the leaders were not disclosed to the 
profane, I was content to share the proffered hospi- 
tality of these ' new-light ' people, which was tendered 
with much kindness. I confess I did not witness in 
that house anything at all offensive in polygamy. 
The kindness I experienced, too, was in houses only 
erected temporarily. All seemed diligent and active. 
Things were hardly settled down, but much land was 
already enclosed and tilled. The produce of the 
gardens was apparently all that could be desired, but 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 293 

the spot was certainly no paradise, however saintly 
the people ; still allowance must be made for the short 
time the ground had been occupied. I had intended 
to remain some tune in the city, but I had between 
eight and nine hundred miles to travel over a wild 
road of the worst description, and it was not possible 
to travel alone. I heard of a party that intended to 
make the same transit, and that so soon, I had scarcely 
time to make the necessary preparations. I was 
enabled, however, by the aid of some of the Saints, 
civilly tendered, to be ready early enough. 

" I can, therefore, no more pretend to give an honest 
and impartial account of the institutions of so reserved 
a people in any respect than I can of those who dwell 
in Kamtschatka. I can only say that I found the 
class of men there hard-working, civil, and oftentimes 
exceedingly kind. As to intelligence, they by no 
means ranked high, as indeed their mental subjection 
to those who led them to the spot where for life they 
had taken their abode fully proves. It is singular 
that the propagation of such wild notions as to faith 
should lead to the peopling of a territory which could 
alone tempt to a settlement of the like nature. It 
was a motive power second in effect to that from gold 
in a less remote region, an illustration of the mode in 
which great natural ends are attained. All that part 
of America may be said to have been colonised under 
the carrying out of two great evils — the lust of 
gold, and religious imposition — both to terminate, no 
doubt, in peaceful industry, and a faith more consistent 
with truth and reason yet to come. At the time I 



294 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

passed through the place, for all I could observe, 
the women, were kind, obliging, and perfectly decorous. 
I have no doubt, from what I saw myself, and from 
what I heard from others, that there is as high a tone 
of morals maintained there, and even a much higher 
tone in some respects, than in the cities of the West 
or in Europe. As far as can be judged by the stranger, 
too, there is more in one respect of sound moral 
character naturally, because what it is the fashion to 
call a ' social grievance ' can never exist there." 

Let little credence be given to stories propagated by 
casual visitors to this far-famed City of the Desert. 

My friend W saw it in its earlier state. There 

is, I too have heard, a jealous vigilance present there, 
not at all incompatible with gaiety and openness of 
manners. Such was his opinion. But I must here 
take my leave of a subject on which the reader may 
form his own idea from so many sources as have since 
become available, recollecting that I write of a much 
earlier time than the present, and what I state relates 
to a period when not a tithe of the present inhabitants 
were in the Yalley, and my informant was a man of 
high honour. 

Another word. Is there any one in the New, and 
even in the Old World, at least in the island of my 
fondest recollections, who has not known, or at least 
heard of, the " droll," Ar tennis Ward ? When I saw 
him he was in no good humour with Young and his 
colony of Saints, and in them he had matter enough 
for some of his raciest jokes. It had been reported 
that the enormous distance of the City of the Saints 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 295 

alike from the east and west coasts rendered it im- 
possible for any to return who would fain retrace their 
steps. It was said, therefore, that the City of the 
Desert was a complete woman-trap. This was idle 
talk. It is true the distance from Council Bluffs is 
eleven hundred miles, and to San Francisco about nine 
hundred more ; but except the hand-cart pilgrims, there 
were only a few who could not have returned to the 
East, undergoing, of course, considerable privations. 

The people were tithed in their earnings. All the 
ready money of the brethren was placed in the hands 
of the elders. Young, playing with Smith's new reli- 
gion, was at once absolute in his sovereignty among the 
chosen, who are so far separated from the " Gentiles." 
No strangers, not members of the church, can know any- 
thing of the secret workings of the chief and his apostles 
in their despotic rule, let visitors assert what they may. 
Strangers pretend to know what passes, as if it were 
before their own eyes. Confidential intercourse with 
the Gentiles, in regard to the secrets of the faithful, 
is out of the question. Yet much civility and cautious 
kindness being shown to strangers, they often imagine 
they know a great deal when they really know nothing 
of moment. " Shall a Gentile intermingle his ungodli- 
ness with the children of the New Revelation ? Heaven 
forbid ! " Thus apostates alone disclose the few secrets 
and doings of the Saints which are matters of revelation 
if they relate to the faith. The Western visitors draw 
upon imagination when they can do nothing in the 
way of worming out secrets from the holy ones. With 
an open aspect, and an apparently civil welcome to 



296 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

such, the Brighamites are as wary as may be to those 
who, in their stranger guise, imagine they can spy 
them out. To all travellers they are hospitable, and 
ready to do them a service. Only one tavern for 
the accommodation of the stranger is, or was, I 
believe, permitted to be open, under sanction of the 
" sovereign authorities." 

Here must terminate all I obtained from "W ? s 

narrative. He did not remain long at San Francisco 
after his arrival there, but proceeded to the Sand- 
wich Islands, from whence came to me a few remarks 
upon the people and some notices on natural history. 
The former being for the most part commercial, are 
now of little interest, while what relates to nature is 
ever worthy of record. 

To return for a moment to San Francisco. At 
no place in the States did the success of the Atlantic 
cable spread more delight than here. I was requested 
among others to contribute my mite towards the recog- 
nition of an event so delightful to those of the old 
country who sojourn in this city. I ventured in one 
of our first-rate papers* to express, I regret so un- 
worthily, the sincere pleasure I felt. We are a long, 
long way from the home of our sires. But we had been 
able to communicate with New York for some time 
past by the telegraph wires : no farther. 

I must now conclude my desultory notes with the 
hope that all miserable petty jealousy between the 
nations at the ends of the cable, or between parent 
and child, unworthy of two great nations, may soon 

* The Sunday Mercury. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 29; 

for ever cease, and sixty millions of souls of the same 
language, family, and habits, draw closer together, and 
present to the whole wondering world the most striking 
examples of national glory that ancient or modern a 
have or ever can exhibit to mankind. 



298 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



CHAPTER XV. 

SANDWICH ISLANDS — THE NATIVES — THE BARK "YANKEE" THE HAWAIIAN 

NATION — THEIR KING " PULU " — GENERAL MILLER DENSE WOODS — ■ 

ORNITHOLOGICAL INFORMATION — MODES OF CATCHING BIRDS — EARTH- 
QUAKES — MOUNTAINS VOLCANOES. 

The intercourse between San Francisco and the Sand- 
wich Islands is continual, as the passage of my friend 

W to them might explain. Owyhee, or, as it is 

generally spelled, Hawaii, is the largest of the islands, 
and he was bound there. It is celebrated as the place 
where the great circumnavigator Cook met his death, 
an event less attributable to the savage disposition of 
the natives than to their misinterpretation of his 
intentions. It is painful to reflect that he who dis- 
covered those islands should have terminated his exist- 
ence on the very spot he was opening to the benefits of 
a civilisation towards which the inhabitants have since 
made great progress. They are a fine race of people, 
somewhat darker in complexion than the people of the 
other Polynesian groups. Their features are pleasing, 
and their manners mild. They are called Kanakas. 
Their climate is much more temperate than other 
places under the same latitude. The labours of the 
European and American missionaries have changed 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 299 

the manners of the people. They are making rapid 
advances towards complete civilisation. The bark 
Yankee, commanded by Captain Paty, the IsTestor 
of that navigation, makes fortnightly or tri-monthly 
trips from San Francisco to Honolulu. Quite an 
extensive invalid passenger trade, too, is carried on 
between the two ports ; a change from the keen, 
bracing winds of the San Franciscan summer to the 
more balmy breezes of the Sandwich Islands being 
especially beneficial to consumptive patients, more par- 
ticularly, perhaps, because it includes a sea-voyage. 

The Hawaiian nation, which seventy or eighty years 
since numbered between three and four hundred thou- 
sand, now counts only about seventy thousand. So much 
for the intercourse of the savage with civilisation ! 
Yast tracts of land are utterly uninhabited ; fertile 
kalo lands, once cultivated, are now overgrown with 
weeds. The island of Hawaii, with a remarkably pro- 
ductive soil, said to be capable of sustaining a hundred 
thousand people, has a population of less than seven 
thousand. 

There is a kind of vegetable down growing in the 
islands, and known there as " pulu," which is largely 
exported to San Francisco. It is used to stuff 
mattresses and bolsters instead of horsehair or wool, 
being less costly than either. It is also said to be 
obnoxious to fleas, in which San Francisco abounds 
beyond any place of which I ever heard. But I have 
no faith in their antipathy to pulu. 

Many others who had visited these islands speak 
highly of them. Several are very mountainous ; 



300 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

some of the mountains are very lofty. Some are 
extinct volcanoes ; perhaps all are of volcanic origin, 
but the country around has ceased to suffer from their 
activity. In Owyhee alone the volcanic action remains 
in full energy. 

I have never, I regret to say, visited these islands. 
I am induced to mention them here for two reasons 
beside the interest they may naturally be supposed to 
afford to Europeans. The first is on account of the 
British consul, General Miller, now no more, who was 
a resident there, and of whom I had some knowledge ; 
and, secondly, because I possess a few particulars rela- 
tive to these islands which may be of interest to 
observers of natural history. 

General Miller left behind him, I believe, some bio- 
graphical memoranda which have been published, 
and relate chiefly to his military operations in South 
America,* which was deeply indebted to him on many 
occasions. He was covered with wounds in the 
service. In Peru he held the rank of general, but in 
one of those popular outbreaks which have darkened 
the character of several of the emancipated South 
American republics, he was necessitated to quit Peru. 
This was in 1840. He was afterwards appointed 
British Consul- General for the Pacific, and died in 
Callao Bay in October, 1861, on board the British 
frigate, the Naiad. He received a public funeral. 
Persons who visited the Sandwich Islands while he 
was a resident there, spoke in the highest terms 
of him. 

* Two volumes, published by his brother, in London, 1828. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 301 

No great variety of objects exists in these islands 
that will contribute to enlarge the sphere of natural 
history, although their group is numerous. The dense 
woods have but few trees which bear berries cal- 
culated to nourish birds of the hard-billed species. 
There are, indeed, some of which the species are 
peculiar to these islands, as I am informed by those 
who have not only made it a study, but have 
recorded and put their observations — the most in- 
teresting being ornithological — into my hands. The 
feathered tribe which seem more immediately native 
feed chiefly on the nectared and succulent flowers 
of the Eugenia Malaccensis, commonly called the 
Malacca apple, which is very plentiful in all the 
islands. It was from three distinct species of these 
birds that the natives obtained the feathers they once 
used in making the cloaks and helmets which they 
wore, and which were not only neat, but handsome 
articles of native clothing. The most rare and 
valuable feathers are yellow, and belong to a bird of 
an intense black colour except under the wings and tail, 
where there are tufts of that colour. These last were 
formerly paid as a tribute by the islanders to the eree, 
or king, and were at times very difficult to obtain. 
They were at that period valued at the rate of five 
feathers to a dollar among the natives themselves. 
The bird which supplied them with red feathers is said 
to have been much more common. This, it must be 
remembered, was at a time long anterior to the exist- 
ing domination of th e white man's influence, at present 
so potent. The birds were taken by a class of men 



302 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

brought up to the pursuit from their earliest years, 
whose operations were conducted after the following 
manner : — 

When the bark of the bread-fruit tree is cut, a 
thick fluid issues from the incision, which, when col- 
lected and boiled, becomes viscid like birdlime. The 
bird-catcher then selects a tree, usually the Malacca 
apple before alluded to. He next proceeds to anoint 
the boughs with the foregoing substance. He now 
denudes the neighbouring trees of nearly all their 
blossoms. In consequence of this stratagem, the poor 
birds settle naturally enough upon the anointed tree, 
and become the easy prey of the fowler. 

Of the birds upon these islands, the Hehivi, so called 
by the natives, is about five and a half inches long, the 
bill much curved and sharply pointed, of a yellowish 
colour, and covered at the base with a hard membrane. 
The tongue is long and tubular, and divided at the 
extremity into minute filaments. With the exception 
of the wings and tail, which are black, and two or 
three scapular feathers of white on each side, the 
whole bird is a beautiful scarlet. The bill and legs are 
of a yellowish red, with three toes forward and one 
behind. The middle toe is connected with the outer 
up to the first joint. The tail feathers, twelve in 
number, are pointed. When this beautiful bird leaves 
the egg, it is of a sickly yellowish-green colour, the 
tail and legs being dusky. Its note is merely a chirp. 
It feeds principally on the flowers of the Eugenia 
before named, and on the banana. They live in pairs, 
and build on the tops of trees, and if caged, will not 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 303 

live long in confinement. It is said to belong to the 
species classed by Linnaeus as the Cerchia coccinea. 

The Amakee, so called by the natives, or the Nee- 
tar ina flam, is in length about four and a half inches. 
The bill is dark browu, slightly curved and pointed, 
about half an inch in length ; the upper portion a 
little longer than the lower. The bill is covered with 
a hard membrane, and the tubular tongue is divided at 
the extremity into small threads. The neck and breast 
are yellow ; the upper part an olive- green ; the quill 
feathers brown, slightly edged with green. The male 
bird is a deeper yellow than the female. The legs are 
brown. The toes are three forward and one behind ; 
the middle is connected with the outer as far as the 
first joint. The tail is short, and the feathers brown, 
edged with yellowish green. The habits and manners 
like those of the foregoing species. They feed on cater- 
pillars and worms. 

The Assassanie, or Fringilla coccinea, is nearly five 
inches long, the bill black, slightly curved, and sharp- 
pointed, about three-fourths of an inch in length ; the 
upper part longer than the lower. The nostrils at the 
base are covered with a hard membrane. The tongue 
is long and tubular, divided into minute threads at the 
tip. The legs are black. The toes three forward and 
one backward ; the middle connected with the outer 
toe as in the foregoing species. The head, back, breast, 
and throat a deep blood-red, deepest coloured upon the 
head. The belly dull white, wings and tail black ; the 
latter having twelve pointed feathers. The tertiary 
quill feathers, greater and lesser wing coverts, edged 



304 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

with red. Similar in habits, manners, and food to the 
Nectarina coccinea. The feathers of this bird are also 
used for clothing by the natives. 

The Merops higer, called UJio by the natives ; Ohu, or 
parrot-billed grosbeak, or Lexia psittacea; the native 
Frepeio, or Sandwich fly-catcher ; the Akepakepa, or 
Fringilla rufa, and Fringilla Sandwiche,nsis ; the 
Amaivee, or Sandwich thrush, of two kinds, one 
named Woakensis, the first a fine songster ; the Puaho, 
or Sandwich strix ; the Corvus tropicus, the Turtoris 
of Linnaeus — are among the land birds. Bats are 
occasionally found. Pigeons and most farm-fowls have 
been introduced, and are at present quite common in 
the islands. The common moor-hen ; wild ducks and 
geese, the last supposed to come from the north-west 
coast of North America ; the tropic bird, noddy, of 
two kinds ; the Korea, so called by the natives, properly 
the Fringa Woakensis ; the Uau, or Procellaria alba — 
are observed, but no gulls, doves, nor birds of the 
parrot kind. There is one species of owl, and petrels 
are seen. 

Oxen were introduced by Europeans into Owyhee, 
as well as horses, dogs, swine, goats, asses, rabbits, and 
cats. Mice, too, were introduced by the shipping. Rats 
were indigenous, and of a peculiar kind. There are 
no venomous animals, and no very novel insects. 

The volcanic character of these islands has been 
already often alluded to, and published in England in 
detail besides, if I remember rightly, more than once. 
The fact that existing action is only met with in 
Owyhee, too, has been stated. Earthquakes are fre- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 305 

quent in consequence, which, is in no way to be won- 
dered at, when that island contains the largest crater 
known. It is ever emitting rocks and lava, and is 
seven miles and a half in circumference and thirteen 
hundred feet high. Two mountains on this island are 
said to equal in height the Peak of Teneriffe. That 
called Mount Raal is sixteen thousand feet in eleva- 
tion, covered with perpetual snow, and perforated with 
craters which exhibit no sign of latent fires. Mount 
Roa is said to be equally high. Wororay is ten 
thousand feet high, exhibiting, like the others, marks 
of volcanic agency. There is a great volcano called 
Pali on the south-east of the island ; stones and 
ashes have been thrown to a great distance, by 
which natives have been killed. A place called 
Wyekaak is the proper spot for ascending to the crater 
of Pali. The best part of two days is required for 
making the ascent, although the direct distance is 
barely twenty- four miles ; the only road by which the 
ascent can be made is quite forty, and that over rugged 
beds and rocks of lava, and part of the way through 
dense woods, on the borders of which, at a great height, 
grow strawberries, bilberries, and various kinds of 
heaths. One of the extinct craters is curiously and 
beautifully clothed with verdure to the very bottom. 
These craters are generally oval in form. Sulphur 
cliffs contrast strangely in some places with the dark 
colour of the lava in sufficient quantities to be an article 
of exportation. Sounds resembling the bubbling or 
ebullition of glass-furnaces are heard in the bowels of 
these mountains, with loud and violent puffs, as red- hot 

x 



3 o6 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

stones are projected upwards from beyond the lava 
where it issues from the heart of the mountain. Some- 
times one part of the mountain exhibits greater activity 
than another. Sulphur is found there both compact 
and crystallised ; obsidian ; and besides various kinds 
of slag-lava, some is discovered there as light as 
sponge, of a dullish- green obsidian passing into pumice. 
Crystals of olivine of the finest kind are also found. 
The volcanoes were once objects of religious worship, 
and scenes of sacrifices to the god Pali. Since Chris- 
tianity has prevailed in the island, this has almost 
wholly ceased. 

At Woahoo are two large extinct volcanoes — one 
called Diamond Hill, from some stone resembling dia- 
monds having been found there ; the other called Fort 
Hill, having been used as such by the natives because 
it commands the town of Hanaruna, a place of residence 
of the king and merchants, built upon a low plain of 
coral rock and shells once overflown by the sea. Lime 
and good stone are found, and salt is produced not 
far off by letting the sea into ponds, and suffering the 
water to evaporate. Porphyry of the argillaceous kind 
is also found in these islands. 

The mountain- chain next in height is in the island 
of Mowee, which, like Owyhee or Hawaii, is volcanic. 
It has a double range of mountains connected by a 
sandy isthmus. Nitre abounds there. Moratoi, to the 
west, decreases in elevation from the east, and termi- 
nates to the westward in a low point. It is to be seen 
at times from Woahoo. Its east end is six thousand 
feet high, with deep valleys, numerous waterfalls turn- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 307 

bling down the rocks into the ocean in agreeable con- 
trast with other scenery in their vicinity, consisting of 
black precipitous cliffs. 

Ohahua, like Mowe'e, is divided into two ranges, in 
elevation about four thousand feet, and not more than 
three thousand on the north-east part. In one place 
here the ridges are suddenly broken on the north-east 
side by an almost perpendicular cliff, nearly three 
thousand feet deep, running for eight or nine miles in 
a semicircular figure, having at . its base a plain three 
or four miles in extent, agreeably diversified and 
covered with vegetation. The climate, too, is much 
cooler here than on the other side of the island cliffs. 
The inhabitants can only communicate with the norths 
east side by a verdant pass through a cultivated valley 
called Amu- Amu, at its entrance about half a mile 
wide. It is at the back of the town of Hanaruna. 
From hence sugar-cane, taro, and cabbages are pro- 
cured for the supply of the town. 

From the upper part of the valley of Amu- Amu 
there is a magnificent prospect ; but the path soon 
leads to an almost perpendicular descent in one place, 
and to a pass called by the natives Pawie, or the Cliff. 
It is a wonderful spot, and leads down to a plain, and to 
low hills covered with verdure. The cliffs are the haunts 
of innumerable birds, where for ages past, undisturbed 
by man, they have reared their young unmolested, and 
are likely to continue to do so, there being nothing 
near to tempt the cupidity or attract the selfish objects 
of the "tyrant of this lower world." The climate is 
warm, but exceedingly healthy, 



308 FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

But I must trespass no further in the way of hear- 
say description from Mr. "W . I have begun to 

wander from the stuffed-bird specimens of the island 
to their general character, already given by others, as 
I have before remarked. 



THE GOLDEN GA TE. 309 



NOTES. 



It must be remembered that the city of San Francisco had 
grown from one house in 1836, to a city of 100,000 inhabitants 
in 1846, In 1836, and for several subsequent years, it was known 
only by the name of Yerba Buena. Every one is aware that the 
shores there were explored by Sir Francis Drake, who sailed 
into a bay on his voyage of discovery in the Pacific, supposed 
to be that of San Francisco, or another near it. He took 
possession of the surrounding country in the name of his 
sovereign Queen Elizabeth. On many maps still extant the 
country is called by the name he gave it, in honour of his own 
beloved land, " New Albion." 

In 1769, a Spanish or Mexican priest named Father Juni- 
pera Serra, Prefect of the College of San Fernando in Mexico, 
came upon the bay at its southern extremity, and struck by its 
extreme extent and great beauty, specially dedicated it and the 
country round to the patron saint of his order, St. Francis, 
thus singularly enough connecting it with the name of its first 
discoverer, Sir Francis Drake. 

The Mission and Presidio (the latter near Fort Point), the 
earliest ecclesiastical and military establishments, were founded 
by the Spaniards in 1776. In June, 1833, Jacob P. Leese, a 
young American merchant of German parentage, who had 
been at Monterey, arrived at Yerba Buena from Los Angeles, 
where he had been engaged in mercantile pursuits, having been 
persuaded by some American ship-masters to establish a store 
and commission house at Yerba Buena. He brought with him 
to the Alcalde of the latter place an order for a grant of land 
from the Spanish Governor at Monterey, as well as a small 
vessel loaded with material to build a wooden house. He 
erected it on what is now Clay Street, a few feet west of 
Dupont Street, nearly where stands at present the St. 
Francis Hotel, in time for the celebration of the 4th of July, 
1836, the anniversary of American independence. Here on 



3io • FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

that day, with two others, Nathan Spear and William Hinkley, 
his two partners, he entertained a hundred guests, and hoisted 
the American flag for the first time on the site of the future 
city. The guests, mostly rancheros, or Spanish farmers, were 
glad to see a commercial house established , for previously they 
had been dependent on foreigners for supplies of various kinds, 
and the harbour was frequently destitute of many necessaries 
for months together. 

Shortly before Mr. Leese quitted Los Angeles, the first in- 
stance of Lynch law in California occurred. A young married 
woman named Yerdugo deserted her husband for another man. 
Senor Yerdugo applied to an Alcalde for an order to compel his 
wife to live with him, which was granted. Yerdugo took his 
wife on his horse^behind him, and started for hisrancho, or farm, 
which he never reached. He was murdered on the road by the 
wife and her paramour The evidence against the two latter 
was conclusive, the circumstances revolting, and the popular 
indignation against them was great. There was a universal 
requisition for punishment suitable to the enormity of the 
offence. The end could only be attained by Lynch law, for 
the courts had never decided a capital case, having avoided 
giving any judgments. Murders, frequent enough, were never 
punished. If this fresh crime were suffered to go unpunished 
there would be no individual security whatever. The people, 
therefore, took the law into their own hands, tried the offenders, 
convicted, sentenced them to death, and finally, executed them. 
Everything was deliberately done, with all due respect for 
justice. A record was carefully kept of the proceedings, and 
the execution was delayed two days, in order that a priest might 
arrive from San Gabriel to confess the condemned. The Al- 
caldes, Don Manuel Eiquena and Don Abel Stearns, made no 
serious resistance, appearing rather to favour the proceeding. 
Thus occurred the first instance of that Lynch law in California 
which afterwards made the annals of San Francisco so remark- 
able during the time of the celebrated " Yigilance Committee," 
about the proceedings of which there are yet so many conflicting 
opinions. 

The Eussian trade with Yerba Buena at this time amounted 
to about 40,000 dollars (£8,000) annually, and the purchases 
were liquidated by drafts drawn by the Eussian-American com- 
pany, payable by other drafts on St. Petersburg, which drafts 
were always taken at par by the American trading vessels. 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 311 



The residents on the Mission, at that date, lived upon their 
herds of cattle ; their dwellings were built of adobe, or sun- 
dried brick; and their furniture, food, and clothing were simple 
in the extreme. The Mission had about eight hundred Indians, 
who lived in rancherias in the savage manner, at various places 
on the peninsula, some as far south as San Mateo. 

In April, 1838, the first child in Yerba Buena, a daughter of 
Mr. Leese, was born. The Hudson's Bay Company, under- 
taking to supply Sitka with produce from California, determined 
to establish an agency at Yerba Buena, and monopolise the 
trade of the bay. Mr. Leese, unable to compete with the 
immense capital of that company, sold his business premises to 
them, and moved to the distant county of Sonoma. The agent 
of the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. Eay, offered trading terms 
to the rancheros much more liberal than those offered by the 
Americans, agreeing to pay cash, as well as the merchandise, 
which was all the Americans would give, and still more, to pay 
the merchandise in advance. The Hudson's Bay Company 
grew rapidly in importance there. But that evil which has so 
constantly blighted British enterprise (the short-sighted policy 
of her aristocratical officials) stepped in to nip the bud of 
commercial success. A Sir George Simpson, the governor of 
the company, visited the coast, disapproved of Eay's system of 
payment, refused to accept the purchase of Mr. Leese's house, 
and proceeded to such a wanton humiliation of Eay, that in 
conjunction with the heavy pecuniary loss it entailed upon him, 
as well as some domestic difficulties which occurred at the time, 
caused the poor man to enter on a career of dissipation, and 
finally, to seek that refuge from trouble which even dissipation 
from despair would not afford him, by committing suicide. 

During 1844-5 and the early part of 1846 the town remained 
stationary. It was whispered, however, among both the 
Americans and their followers, that California would soon 
become a part of the United States, and Yerba Buena was 
regarded as its future metropolis. In the early months of 1846 
Yerba Buena contained less than fifty inhabitants, and not ten 
children ; but a hundred or two Mexican or Spanish hombres, as 
well as some whites, might be gathered together in a short 
time by sending to the Mission or Presidio, and the winds were 
already wafting vessel loads of Americans thither. The emi- 
grants of 1845 and 1846, annoyed by the proclamations of the 
Mexican Governor, began to talk of revolution, and forming a 



312 .FIVE YEARS WITHIN 

government of their own. John C. Fremont, now General Fre- 
mont, with a band of only sixty men, rode through the country 
displaying the American flag, but only intending to proceed 
peacefully through to Oregon, so it was said, without any inten- 
tion of what ensued. The sight of that flag, so exciting to the 
Americans, caused a number at Sonoma to rise and declare their 
own independence. It was on the 18th of June, 1846. Wm. 
B. Ide issued from thence a proclamation headed, " Head 
Quarters, Sonoma," and commencing with "The Commander- 
in-Chief of the troops assembled at the Fortress of Sonoma," 
above which floated the old " Bear Flag " of California. In con- 
sequence, Don Pio Pico, Mexican Governor, addressed a letter 
of remonstrance to Thomas Larkin, American Consul in Cali- 
fornia, noted for his defence of American citizens at Monterey 
in 1840. The Consul's reply was hardly read, however, when the 
sound of Commodore Sloat's guns announced the cessation of 
Mexican rule, and the commencement of a new era in Califor- 
nian history. So much for the morality of the stronger hand, 
as usual in political proceedings under the " last reason " of 
republics as well as of kings. 

July 4th, 1846, passed in silence at Yerba Buena ; but when 
the American Vice- Consul there hung out his flag in honour of 
the day which Americans never omit to celebrate, some people 
gathered together, drinking the customary toasts, and speaking 
anew of independence. What sort of independence would be 
the share of the Mexicans they did not appear to regard any 
more than the law of nations. On the morning of July 8th, 
the sloop-of-war Portsmouth lay broadside to the town, and 
some unusual action was observable on board. Shortly, two 
boats, laden with marines, pushed off from her. As the boats' 
keels grated on the beach the commander of the Portsmouth 
sprang ashore. The sergeant with the colours followed. The 
men were drawn up and the lieutenant called out, " Fall back, 
keep your line straight as a street ! " then with a comic look at 
Captain Montgomery, "straight as Montgomery Street," at 
which the marines began to cheer, but Captain Montgomery, 
hardly able to keep from smiling, ordered " Silence !" Hence 
the name of the present Eegent Street of San Francisco. The 
next order was given by the Major, " Eight flank, march up 
Washington Street ! " — now another main street — and Anally, as 
they reached the flag-staff on the Plaza, he again gave " Com- 
pany ! by the right flank, march ! to the flag- staff on Ports- 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



mouth Square." At this, the name of their vessel, all the 
" company " did laugh, and as one who related it to me said, 
" the town was taken by smiles." Perhaps the bloodlessness of 
the acquisition reconciled the Mexicans so readily to their con- 
querors, for they are on the very best terms at the present day. 
At the time, the sub-prefect protested in the name of the 
Mexican Government, but as he spoke in Spanish, his protests 
were supposed to be congratulations ! The American flag was 
raised by Captain Montgomery, and most of those present 
cheered lustily as the stars and stripes floated on the morning 
breezes. Thirteen volleys were fired by the marines, and 
answered by the guns of the Portsmouth. Sloat's proclamation, 
declaring the country under American jurisdiction, was read. 
That night a patrol guarded the town, and all the neighbour- 
hood gathered at the puebla of Yerba Buena to see the flag. 
Whatever the Mexicans thought of the sang-froid with which 
their neighbours claimed their territory, certain it is that they 
got up an impromptu festival of their own on the occasion, and 
caroused all night. The morrow brought post-riders from 
Monterey with the further news that the Americans were rapidly 
conquering Mexico itself ! The aspect of affairs in that country 
was even then such as almost to warrant the Americans in the 
annoyance they feel at not having annexed Mexico, instead of 
Texas and California only, to their Union. French rule is un- 
doubtedly superior to Mexican, but I am Anglo-Saxon enough 
to prefer American to that French which terminated so disas- 
trously for the despotic rule of a German pretender. 

As many persons have emigrated from England to the mines, 
which have been so productive in that part of America noticed 
here, it is desirable they should not be disappointed in many 
things about which they may miscalculate. Few are aware that 
the land entered by the Golden Gate, the fine entrance of the 
harbour of San Francisco so denominated, is not a land of cheap 
living. Yery large quantities of gold have been raised, but 
Australia now makes larger returns of that metal, while silver, 
in purity and quantity, is found far surpassing all previous 
example. Emigrants will find everything dear to European 
prices. A dollar, or four shillings, in San Francisco will not go 
farther than a shilling in England, while all employments there 
are overstocked with hands. In order to explain this in the 
best mode, the reader recollecting that house rent and taxes are 



3H 



.FIVE YEARS WITHIN 



proportionately high, the rates of wages in several common 
trades are subjoined as well as the prices of provisions. Miners 
who can rough it up the country, and rough work it is with 
them, may find ground productive enough if they possess a 
little capital, but they must move into the distant country, and 
be prepared to combat hardships. 

The subjoined are the rates of wages in the more common 
employments : — 



Wages per Month. 



Wages per Diem. 



Bookkeepers . 
Clerks . . . 
Salesmen . . 
Barkeepers . 
Men Cooks . 
AVomen Cooks 
Waiters . . 
Housemaids . 
Barmaids . . 



Dollars. 
75 to 150 



50 
61) 
40 
50 
30 
35 
15 
15 



100 
200 
75 
70 
35 
45 
30 
25 



Blacksmiths . . 
Anvil Strikers . . 
Bricklayers . . . 
Cabinetmakers . . 
Carpenters . 
Glaziers and Painters 
Stonecutters . . 
Labourers . . . 
Washerwomen . . 
Draymen with a team 



Dollars. 



to 



n 



The wages of journeymen printers run from five to six 
dollars, or from twenty to twenty-four shillings per day. The 
dollar may be reckoned at four shillings English, or four and 
a penny. 







Markei 


' Tariff. 


Venison . . 


. per lb. . . lOd. 


Oysters . . per doz. . . 2p. 


Beef, prime joints „ . . lOd. 


Wild Geese . each . 2s. to 3s. 


Do., inferior parts „ 4d. to 5d. 


Do. Ducks . ,, ... Is,. 


Pork . . 


. „ 6d. — 7d. 


Rabbits . . ,, . . . 2s. 


Mutton . 


. „ . . . 6d. 


Quails . . . per doz. . . 3s. 


Veal . . . 


„ 6d. to 7d. 


Flour . . per 50 lbs. 6s. to 10s. 


Lamb . 


. „ 6d. — 7d. 


Indian Meal „ 6s. -*■ 8s. 


Turkey . 


. „ 13d. — lod. 


Buckwheat Flour per 10 lbs. 4s. 


Geese . . 


. „ ., . . 13d. 


Bice . . . per lb. . . 6d. 


Ducks 


per pair 4s. to 6s. 


Oswego Starch .,,... Is. 


Fowls . . . 


. „ . . . 4s. 


Haricot Beans . „ . . . 2d. 


Salmon . . 


. per lb. 


. Is. 


Sugar . . . . ,, . 7d. to 8d. 


Sturgeon 


" 


. 6d. 


Tea „ .4s. — 5a. 


Smelts 


per pair 


. lOd. 


Coffee ....... Is. 8d. 


Herrings . 


each 


. 4d. 


Raisins ........ Is. 


Soles . . 


per pair 


. lOd. 


Dried Currants . ,, . . Is. 3d. 


Lobsters . 


each 


. Is. 


Chocolate . . per package 2s. 


Crabs . . 


>> 


. . 6d. 





THE GOLDEN GATE, 



315 



Fruit, when in Season. 


Vegetables, all the year round. 


Khubarb . per lb. . . . Is. 


Potatoes . . per lb. Id. to 2|d. 


Strawberries . „ . . 6d. to Is. 


Cabbages . . per head . . 6d. 


Gooseberries . „ . . 6d. — Is. 


Turnips . . per bunch . 6d. 


Raspberries . „ . . 6d. — Is. 


Carrots . . ,, . 6d. 


Ch'erries . . „ Is. 2d. to 2s. 6d. 


Onions . . . per lb. . . Is. 


Cranberries ...... 6d. 


Tomatoes 3d. 


Blackberries . „ . . . Is. 3d. 


Peas . . . per quart 6d. to Is. 


Plums ....... 2s. 6d. 


French beans „ 6d. — Is. 


Peaches, half-bushel baskets 4s. 6d. 


Artichokes . . . . 6d. — lOd. 


Grapes . . per lb. . 6d. to Is. 


Cauliflowers . . each 6d. — Is. 


Water Melons . . . 6d. — Is. 


Squash or Pumpkins . per lb. 6d. 


Musk do 6d. — Is. 


Lettuce . . . per head . 2|d. 


Cocoa-nuts . . . . 6d. — Is. 


Eadishes . . . per bundle 2|d. 


Oranges . . per doz. . . 2s. 




Apples . . . per lb. 3d. to Is. 




Peas . . . . „ . 6d. — 2s. 





It will thus be perceived that the high rate of wages, and the 
great but accidental profits from the mines and minerals, are 
causes of the high prices maintained in the State. It is needful 
this should be considered by emigrants of small means. Nearly 
every branch of business and handicraft is filled to an overflow. 
Mining is only to be followed by men of a hardy constitution, 
who can brave no common degree of toil. 

Distances. 

To San Francisco from England by sea, via Panama and New 
York from Liverpool. 

To New York . . .3,100 miles. To San Francisco, via Cape Horn, 
New York to Panama 2,400 „ 13,522 miles, in 120 days. 

Panama to S. Francisco 3,150 „ 



Total in 36 days . 8,650 „ 

P>y land from San Francisco to New York, 3,417 miles. 

San Francisco to Sacramento . 117 miles. 

Placeville 165 

Humboldt Mines 420 

Salt Lake City 800 

St. Louis 2,299 

New York 3,417 

Land and sea to England 6,517, saving 2,133 miles when 
the New York and San Francisco railroad is completed. 



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